My Hurricane
by disappearingirl96
Summary: A chance encounter with Alison DiLaurentis in a closet sends Emily's Senior Year into a spin. AU, Emison.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone, this is an AU fan fic for Emison. Its senior year, there's no A, and Alison has only just moved to Rosewood. Please read and review! :)**

Its 7.30am on the first day of Senior Year, and Emily Fields is still in bed.

She rolls over sleepily, before a quick glance at her alarm clock sends her eyes awake with a jolt. Stupid thing. She knew she should have bought a new one over the summer, but she kept forgetting.

It had been a boring summer really, like all summers were in the town of Rosewood Pennsylvania. She had actually finished her summer reading list for once. She had been shopping with Hanna a few times as well, as Hanna tried her hardest to make Emily into the 'fashionista' she claimed lived deep inside of her.

She opens her wardrobe and searches for something to wear. Choosing clothes was always a chore for Emily. She's not like Hanna, who could happily spend hours standing in front of her wardrobe, trying on fifty different outfits before settling on the first one she tried on. Emily just chooses her Rosewood high shorts and hoodie, grinning at the thought of Hanna's look of horror when she meets her later.

There's no time for a shower, and her grin widens as she imagines what Hanna would say if she knew that she had turned up to the first day of senior year without even having a shower.

Right on cue, Emily's phone beeps with a text from Hanna:

**Alright, panicking. No idea what to wear. This year is too much already :/**

Emily laughs to herself as she types back a message of support. She didn't have much sympathy for Hanna though. Hanna could look good in jeans and a sweatshirt.

Emily has breakfast in about 5 seconds flat. She runs back to her room, and grabs her bag before heading out the door. She gets about 3 steps down the hallway before she turns around, goes back into her room, and touches her hand on her poster of Missy Franklin. Being a swimmer herself, this was her lucky poster. This had been a part of her morning routine for about 6 months now, and Missy hadn't let her down yet.

She runs back through the kitchen and hops into her car, reversing down the driveway. She shakes her head in amusement as she realises she hadn't even bothered to check if there was anyone around.

She makes it to school in record time, and she flukes a park right next to her friend Spencer Hastings' silver four wheel drive. Missy was working her magic already. She gets a quick glimpse of herself in the mirror, which reminds her that she hadn't even done her hair before her left. She quickly pulls out a hair tie and pulls her dark hair into a messy ponytail. Emily hops out of her car and walks towards the school, and smiles as she spots Hanna and Spencer waiting for her out the front.

"Em! We thought you'd never show!" cries Hanna. Hanna sprints towards her and wraps her in an enormous hug, seemingly forgetting that they had only seen each other two days ago. As per Emily's expectations, Hanna looked gorgeous in her designer outfit. Hanna pulls back from the hug, and then grabs Emily's sleeve. "Seriously? This is how you dress for senior year?"

Emily just laughs, as Spencer replies to Hanna. "Hey, lay off already. Not all of us wake up at 5.30 in the morning just to pick out an outfit."

"Hey! I did not, thank you very much," says Hanna indignantly.

Spencer just raises her eyebrows in response to that, and the three of them dissolve into giggles. Emily gives Spencer a quick hug of her own, appreciating Spencer's unique preppy style as she pulled away.

The girls begin walking into school, pushing through the bustle of people. This was one thing Emily hadn't missed over the summer. She was looking forward to getting away from the sweaty hallways of Rosewood High.

"Where's Aria by the way?" it had only just occurred to Emily that their other friend was missing.

Hanna rolls her eyes. "There's some new girl moving in apparently, and her mom wants her to show her around. We'll meet up with her later."

Emily reflected on this piece of information with interest. Rosewood High didn't often get many new students, and it was unusual for someone to move in for senior year.

The girls realise with a chorus of groans that none of their lockers are located anywhere near each other. Spencer walks in the opposite direction to Hanna and Emily, after they all agree to meet up at lunch.

Emily sighs with relief when she finds out that she has a top locker. She had spent all of junior year with a bottom locker, and the experience of having Noel Kahn's books fall on her head after every period had not been an enjoyable one. She puts her books into her locker, noting that she would have to decorate the locker before the end of the week.

"Spencer was wrong you know," says Hanna absently, as she loads her books into her locker.

"Oh yes?" says Emily skeptically.

Hanna looks up with sheepish grin. "It was actually 4.30," she admits, with just the barest trace of shame in her voice.

Emily playfully hits Hanna on the head with her biology textbook. "You're hopeless you know," she informs Hanna.

Hanna just sweeps her eyes over Emily's outfit with a raised eyebrow, and they both laugh, accepting that perhaps they are both a bit hopeless.

Emily farewells Hanna, before walking towards her first period Biology class. To her dismay, she was the first person in the classroom. Her teacher was all too happy to request Emily's assistance with finding lab coats from a closet in the back of the classroom.

Emily entered the closet, sighing as she realised that the lab coats were buried in a gigantic box right at the back of the closet. She drags the box into the middle of the closet, dragging about ten lab coats out and putting them on the floor. She groans as she realises that she will have to actually lean all the way into the box in order to grab the next five or so lab coats left in the box.

The box is practically as tall as Emily herself, and she hates the predicament she finds herself in. Bent over double in the back of the science closest on her first day of senior year. She reaches as far into the box as she can, her fingers barely scraping the lab coats at the bottom of the box. She considers giving up. Isn't the first day usually about introductions and laying down the rules anyway? Surely there is no chance of a practical today.

But Emily's competitive streak comes out. She figures that seeing as she has gotten this far, she may as well finish. She reaches in just a tiny bit further, stretching out as far as she can. Then, all of a sudden, she goes too far. She tumbles head first into the box, her legs failing behind her, as she attempts to wriggle herself free. Her attempts end in disaster, however, as she simply tips over. She was halfway through mentally thanking Missy Franklin for the fact that nobody had seen that, when she hears a voice from somewhere above her

"Are you all right?"

She can actually _hear _the smirk in that voice. How embarrassing. The shame of this moment will live with her for the rest of the year. Hanna will never let her hear the end of it.

"Um yes, I'm fine," she replies, dragging herself out of the box in what was possibly the least graceful movement of her life. She stands up, dusting off her shorts, before she finally dares to look up and see who was witness to her moment of disaster.

And she curses Missy Franklin with all her heart when she sees who it is. Of all people, it was a gorgeous blonde who had seen her at her most vulnerable. If Emily didn't know she was gay before, she certainly did now, as the blonde casually leans against the doorway, smirking at Emily. Emily feels almost violated by that smirk, as she searches her mind for something to say.

"Are you in this class?" she asks, trying to act casual.

"No, I was just here for the show," the blonde replies, her smirk widening. Her voice is laced with sarcasm, but her blue eyes are playful.

Emily feels her cheeks redden as she realises just what 'show' the blonde had likely seen. She suddenly regrets her clothing choice, as her shorts had likely just given the blonde a very unflattering view of Emily when her legs were flailing through the air. She makes a mental note to tear down her Missy Franklin poster as soon as she gets home.

Her mind goes blank as to what to say next, so she sets about picking up the lab coats which were scattered all over the closet floor. The blonde disappears back into the classroom, and Emily is left to pick up the coats on her own. Once all of the coats have been gathered up, she enters the classroom again. Part of her is relieved when she sees that the classroom is now filled with students, and she is surprised to find that a part of her is disappointed that she doesn't get any more one on one time with the mystery blonde. She smiles to herself as she realises that this must be the new girl that Aria had to show around earlier today, and she decides to bring this up during lunch.

The bell rings, and the blonde sits in the row behind Emily. Emily can feel the presence of this girl behind her, and she prays that the blonde has a very poor memory.

The teacher marks the roll, and Emily keeps an ear out for the blonde's name. The first few names are familiar, but then-

"Alison Dilaurentis?"

"Present," comes the reply from that sickly sweet voice Emily had heard in the closet. Emily finds herself turning around, and Alison just raises her eyebrows at Emily with yet another smirk. Emily quickly turns back to the front, her cheeks burning red with embarrassment.

The rest of biology is torture to Emily. She can feel Alison's presence right behind her the entire time. She has to resist turning around to get another glimpse of the blonde. And the worst thing is that her misadventure in the closet is all for nothing. True to form, all they learnt was introductory stuff.

The bell did, however, eventually ring, relieving Emily from her torture. She grabs her books and flies out of the classroom, not game enough to make eye contact with Alison.

Emily walks into each of her next few classes almost hoping that Alison would be there, but to no avail. Her mind keeps wandering to the blonde, and she fears that her cheeks will be permanently red by the end of the day. If only she hadn't made that fateful decision to reach that extra inch for those damn lab coats.

Lunch period soon arrives, and Emily is keen to ask Aria about Alison. She somehow ends up being the last out of her classroom though, which means that the others are already there when she finally arrives at the cafeteria.

She is walking towards their table when she overhears Aria talking

"… didn't seem very nice. It was almost as though she thought she was too good for my help or something".

"Are you talking about Alison?" asks Emily as she sits down. She can feel the heat go to her cheeks again as she realises she might have seemed far too keen for information on Alison.

"Yeah. Do you know her or something?"

"Um, yeah. She's in my biology class" Emily answers, purposefully neglecting to mention her incident in the lab coat room.

"Oh really? Yeah I had to show her around before school. She didn't seem very friendly."

Emily feels a pang within her chest at this news. She had been hoping that she would be able to get to know Alison, even after the way they had met before. Now it looks like she would be lucky even to speak to Alison again.

"Did you talk to her in Biology at all?" she can hear Aria asking.

"Oh, um, kind of. Only for a second. She seemed alright though." Emily had no idea why she found herself defending Alison. After all, the blonde had only smirked at her as she had fallen into a cardboard box and given her a sarcastic comment. It wasn't exactly the start of a lifelong friendship.

To Emily's relief, Spencer changes the subject to something about debate club, and Emily drifts off from the conversation. She can see Alison out of the corner of her eye, already right at home with the cool kids. To her horror, Alison turns her head and makes eye contact with Emily, and the corners of her lips turn up into that signature smirk. Emily goes to break eye contact, but then Alison raises her finger to her lips in a ssshhing motion, and winks. By now, Emily's cheeks are a radiant shade of beetroot, and she stares back down at the table.

"Emi-ly," comes Hanna's singsong voice. Emily looks up, and Hanna is grinning. "Why do you look like you've been on a vacation to the sun?"

"I do not!" Emily cries, mortified that Hanna had pointed this out. But then Hanna had never been one for tact. To Emily's relief, it is Aria who changes the subject this time, and Emily flashes her a grateful smile. She is quite sure she will kill Hanna one of these days.

The rest of the lunch period passes without any further incident, and Emily is looking forward to the afternoon, as they all have English together. Unfortunately the door to Emily's locker is jammed shut, and by the time she pries it open she's already fifteen minutes late to English. She sprints down the hallway to the classroom.

"Sorry I'm late, my locker was jammed shu-" she begins her breathless apology, but she stops short. Just her luck. The only spare seat in the room is the one next to Alison DiLaurentis. That poster was definitely going through the shredder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to those who reviewed the first chapter, I really appreciated it! Also I forgot to mention this on the first Chapter, but I'm from Australia, and we tend to follow the British way of spelling most words, so I apologise in advance for any words that may look strange to any American readers. I've tried my best to use American terms where I can, but I'm sure I've missed something somewhere.**

She can't believe it. Of all the seats that could have been left free, it was the one next to _her. _Emily walks towards the desk as casually as possible. Alison is leaning back slightly on her chair, and she pulls out the chair to her left, gesturing for Emily to sit down. Emily slides into the seat, trying as hard as she can not to meet Alison's eyes.

Hanna is sitting two seats to her left, and she gives Emily an apologetic smile for not being able to save her a seat. If Emily had ended up sitting next to anyone else, she might have considered forgiving Hanna one day. But for now, she was busy vowing not to look anywhere to her right for the next 45 minutes.

She is making good on her vow for the first 4 minutes of the class. Their teacher, Mr Fitz, had told them to read over a question that they would discuss later, so Emily tried to engross herself in that.

"Recovered from your fall yet?"

Oh. She had never considered what to do if Alison actually _talked _to her. Perhaps she should have planned ahead for this.

"I, um, yeah, thank you," she replies, purposefully choosing not to look up from her reading. She cringes inwardly. She could have made a joke or something, but instead she couldn't even form a coherent sentence.

"My new friends quite enjoyed hearing about your trip," Alison informs Emily ever so casually.

Now her head flies up from the reading, and she shoots Alison a glare. Alison is leaning on her desk, one hand under her chin, and looking back at Emily with a hint of amusement.

"I, what! Don't tell me you told people," splutters Emily.

Alison laughs, and opens her mouth to reply, but she is cut off

"Miss Fields, whilst I do appreciate your attempts to get to know our new student, I would prefer it if you waited until after class for that," admonishes Mr Fitz, and Emily quickly flicks to the next page of her reading, suitably chastised.

She can't concentrate though, not with _her _sitting there. The words on the page may as well be Japanese for all Emily knows right now. Something about Alison makes Emily's brain go all foggy, and she shakes her head, trying to clear her mind. She can't work it out. It wasn't as if Alison had been friendly to her or anything, and if she had actually told people about what happened that morning… well. It didn't bear thinking about.

Emily tries her very best to keep her mind on the page, but she can't help it. She sneaks another glance at Alison, and feels a strange flutter within her stomach. Emily senses that Alison isn't actually reading what's on the page either. Her eyes aren't moving along with the words, and she is absently tapping her pen against her lip. Emily realises just a second too late that she has been staring for too long, as Alison glances at her out of the corner of her eye and gives her a tiny wink.

As Emily rushes to focus her attention back onto her page, she somehow manages to knock her pen flying off her desk. And of course, it falls on the floor next to Alison. Emily leans over to pick up the pencil case, but Alison is also bending down for it, and their hands brush together. Emily recoils from this touch, surprised at the heat she feels from the contact. Alison is left to pick up the pen and this time Emily is very careful to avoid both eye and skin contact with Alison when she accepts it. She can see the traces of a smirk on Alison's face, and she is decides that she will definitely be on time for English tomorrow. Hell, she will be the first one in the room.

The rest of the period passes without further incident, as Emily successfully manages not to make eye contact with Alison. She even manages to keep her pens on her desk this time. The bell rings to signal the end of the period, and Emily tries frantically to pack up her books and make her escape. But the more she tries to hurry, the slower she ends up going, as the zip to her pencil case keeps getting stuck. Hanna, Spencer and Aria have already left the classroom, and Emily finally gets her things packed up and is just about to leave, when she hears a voice from behind her.

"I never told anyone you know." She turns around, and Alison is sitting on her desk, having clearly been packed up for the best part of five minutes already.

"What?" is all Emily can say in response.

Alison leans into Emily's ear. "It will be our secret," she whispers, before striding out the door without so much as a glance back at Emily. Emily stands there for about ten seconds, dumbstruck, before realising that her mouth had been hanging open and that she had another class to get to.

Her brain is clouded for the rest of the day. She doesn't learn a thing in any of her next classes, because all she can think of is the feeling of Alison DiLaurentis' sweet breath right on her ear. She thanks her lucky stars (Missy Franklin having been dumped from this role) that she doesn't get picked on for an answer by any of her teachers. Her likely answer would have been "Alison," because that was all she could think about, and wouldn't _that _be embarrassing. She would rather relive her disaster in the box of lab coats than have that happen.

The end of the day finally arrives, and she meets Hanna after she goes to her own locker. Hanna is babbling away about something, but Emily wouldn't have a clue what, because her mind is of course on Alison. She is keeping half an eye out for any sign of Alison in the hallways, but there's no sign of her. They meet Spencer and Aria further down the hallway, and they are excitedly chatting as they stroll towards the parking lot. Emily's contributions aren't much more than the odd grunt of agreement.

"Earth to Emily," says Spencer after a couple of minutes, waving her hands in front of Emily's face.

"Hmm?"

All of a sudden Hanna starts to literally jump around with excitement, tapping Aria and Spencer on the shoulders.

"Senior Year is interesting already," she announces cryptically.

"Stop jumping around like a puppy and tell us what on earth you are talking about," Spencer replies.

Hanna pouts for half a second, before pointing at Emily. "Emily Fields has a crush ladies and gentlemen."

This snaps Emily right out of her daydream. "What are you talking about?" she asks, and she fears that there may have been a defensive edge to her voice. Of course Hanna would notice though. Hanna knew her better than anyone.

"Oh, come on Em. You've been walking around with a dopey look on your face for the past fifteen minutes. Now come on, tell us who she is!"

"I do not have a crush on anyone thank you," Emily says. And she might seriously have believed her own lie, if it weren't for the way her stomach twisted whenever she thought of Alison. A crush. It slightly surprised her with how quickly she accepted that she did indeed have a crush on someone that she had known for all of about six hours.

"Hanna makes a convincing argument Em," says Spencer, eyebrows raised. "You couldn't even form sentences for a while back there."

"Not you too!" cries Emily. "Aria, are you on my side?" she asks with pleading eyes.

"Hmm, sorry Em. I kind of have to side with Hanna on this one," says Aria, and Emily gives up. She knows she is busted, but for some reason she doesn't want to tell the others exactly who she has a crush on. She feels it might not go down too well after Aria's comments about Alison at lunch time.

"Oh come on Em, you have to tell us! I'm so excited about this!" Hanna pleads, and Emily just shakes her head. She isn't giving up this information so easily.

"Well, it's confirmed that you do have a crush then," Spencer remarks, and Emily rewards her with her biggest glare.

"Emily, please tell us! My love life is MIA at the moment, so at least let me enjoy yours," whines Hanna.

By this time they have already made it to the parking lot, and Emily makes a quick decision to just ignore Hanna. She strolls towards her car and hops in the drivers seat. She can see Hanna in the rear vision mirror putting on her most pitiful face, trying to make Emily feel guilty for her secrecy. Emily reverses out of the park and pulls away, casually waving goodbye to the girls.

"I'll find out one day Emily!" yells Hanna playfully, and Emily laughs as she sees Spencer clamp her hands over Hanna's mouth and drag her towards her car.

When Emily arrives home, she exchanges pleasantries with her mother in the kitchen, and is fairly satisfied that she wasn't acting at all strange. Then she heads up to her room and makes a list of vows for tomorrow:

**1. Do not make eye contact with Alison**

**2. Do not mention Alison's name to anyone**

**3. If Alison's name is mentioned by someone, do not react. At all.**

**4. Get to English early and sit on the other side of the room to Alison.**

**5. Get to Biology late and avoid going anywhere near those lab coats ever again.**

If she can stick to all five of these points tomorrow, her life should be much easier. She groans inwardly as she realises that there isn't much she can do about Hanna knowing she has a crush on someone though. She resigns herself to the fact that she is going to have to put up with Hanna's harassment until someone else in their group becomes a new target.

She decides to make a start on her homework before dinner, to try and keep her mind off Alison. She sighs as she realises that she never wrote down the question for English homework in her haste to get away from Alison. She is even more annoyed when she realises that she would have no idea what to write even if she did write the question down, so she gives Spencer a call.

Spencer picks up on the third ring, "Hey, ready to tell me about your crush now are you?" she says jokingly.

"No thank you, I am not. I was just calling about English homework. I forgot to write the question down."

Spencer laughs. "Too busy thinking about your crush were you?" she teases, and Emily rolls her eyes before realising that Spencer can't see her. "I'm actually working on it now, so you can come over to my house and we can work on it together if you want," Spencer continues.

Emily takes her up on the offer. She has always liked running, so she decides to jog over to Spencer's house rather than drive. About twenty minutes later she is outside of Spencer's house, and there is huge removalists van parked right in front of Spencer's driveway which strikes Emily as strange.

Emily stops for a quick breather before heading into Spencer's when she sees a blonde head that is all too familiar out of the corner of her eye. Alison DiLaurentis is on the sidewalk barely ten metres away, and Emily is quite tempted to keep running. It's too late though, as Alison's eyebrows have already raised in recognition of Emily. As Alison comes closer, Emily becomes very self-conscious of the fact that her forehead is dripping with sweat, and she frantically wipes her forehead with her t-shirt. She curses the fact that out of all the sidewalks in Rosewood, Alison would be strolling down this one. She realises with a sense of annoyance that she forgot to put that poster through the shredder when she got home.

"Come to swear me to silence about this morning have you?" says Alison as she stops in front of Emily. "I told you, it's our secret."

Shit. Again, she hadn't prepared for what to do in the event that Alison actually _talked _to her.

Emily opens her mouth to interrupt, but Alison doesn't miss a beat. "And now, Emily Fields, I would like you to _tell _me a secret".

Emily feels her stomach drop. Alison is leaning forward to say something else, so there's no escaping this one. "Tell me. What _are_ you doing outside of my house?"

She realises with a surprise that Alison has moved into the house next door to Spencer. And if she had of known this very important piece of information half an hour ago, she might have stayed at home. She can't help but feel that Spencer should have mentioned this piece of gossip during lunch. It would have been most helpful.

Emily makes the quick decision to break rule number one on her list. She makes eye contact with Alison, and she can feel her insides flutter at the sight of those blue eyes shining with amusement. "I'm visiting a friend" she says, nodding towards Spencer's house.

"Oh really? I assumed you'd stalked me here," Alison replies with a quick laugh.

Emily blushes. "No. That would be weird."

"I'm almost disappointed," says Alison drily.

Emily doesn't really know how to respond to that. "Well I suppose I should get going then," she says, edging towards Spencer's house.

"Sure." Alison steps out of Emily's way, and Emily walks towards Spencer's house, determined not to look behind her at Alison.

"Emily?" comes Alison's voice from back on the sidewalk. Emily has no choice but to turn around, and Alison is still in the same spot she was before. She hesitates for a second, and then says "You should visit your friend more often." With that, Alison strolls on towards her house, and for the second time in one day, Alison DiLaurentis has left Emily dumbstruck.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review :) Also just a note that the next update probably won't be for a little while, because I'm going to be pretty busy for the rest of the week.**


	3. Chapter 3

**First of all, thank you so much to all of you who reviewed! I wasn't expecting to be able to update this soon, but I got really motivated so here you are! I've been up since 5.00 this morning and its now past midnight, so I apologise for any spelling and/or grammar errors. Please review!**

Emily has English first thing the next day, so she sets five different alarms (on her phone this time) so she will actually wake up in time. She isn't risking having to sit next to Alison again, especially after her comment last night. What had she meant by "you should visit your friend more often?" Did it mean that Alison was hoping to bump into Emily again, or was she just teasing again? This question had kept Emily awake for most of the night before, so she wakes with bleary eyes. She gets ready for school in record time, and she hesitates before leaving her room. She decides to give Missy one last try, so she follows her ritual of tapping the poster.

She figures she will concentrate much better in class if she doesn't sit anywhere Alison, so she arrives at school a good twenty minutes early, and she sends Hanna a quick text letting her know that she will meet them in class today, making up some excuse about needing to talk to Mr Fitz before class starts.

She walks towards her English classroom, relieved that her plan is working. She will just sit in the seat on Hanna's left, and Alison won't be in her view, unless she purposely looks to her right.

What she is not prepared for as she steps through the door is the presence of Alison DiLaurentis, fifteen minutes early for English. Emily's mouth falls open as she lays eyes on Alison, already sitting in the same seat as yesterday. This puts Emily in quite a predicament. She can't sit on the other side of the room to Alison, because it will look obvious that she is trying to avoid her. But Hanna, Spencer and Aria will find it strange if she doesn't sit with them. She tries to back out of the classroom, but Alison glances up at the sound of her footsteps, and Emily makes a quick decision.

"What," she says, sliding into the seat next to Alison, "are you doing here?"

"English," replies Alison with a smirk, "is my new favorite subject."

Emily has never heard anything more absurd in her life. "You weren't even reading that page yesterday", she points out.

Alison raises an eyebrow. "Neither were you," she says simply.

Emily's cheeks flush at that comment. How much attention had Alison really been paying to her yesterday? She recalls that Alison had remembered her last name outside of Spencer's, and she had clearly noticed that Emily's mind wasn't exactly on her schoolwork during yesterday's class. _Of course she's noticed you, you idiot. She saw you flip over in a cardboard box, she isn't going to forget that in a hurry _she tells herself.

By this time, other students have started to file into the classroom, and Hanna looks puzzled when she sees Emily sitting next to Alison.

"Hey Em, what are you doing sitting over there again?" she asks.

"Oh, Mr Fitz wants us to sit in the same seats as yesterday," lies Alison easily, before Emily has a chance to answer.

Emily shrugs apologetically at Hanna before turning to Alison. "What are you doing?" she hisses under her breath. Her grand plans to avoid Alison have just been shot to smithereens for the rest of the year. Alison just smiles. "You intrigue me Emily Fields."

Again, she uses Emily's last name. And what's this about her intriguing Alison? The most intriguing thing she has done is fall flat on her face in front of the most attractive girl in the school, and now said attractive girl finds her "intriguing?"

Emily figures that Alison has likely told half the school about her fall yesterday, and she feels as though Alison probably only wants to sit next to her in the hope that Emily will do something stupid again.

She feels a sudden rush of anger course through her body. "Look, I know you've probably been laughing at me secretly ever since yesterday, and fair enough, but you don't have to sit there and laugh right in my face" she says, and the words come out much more harshly than she intended.

Alison's face drops at this comment. Her smile falls from her face, and she looks away from Emily towards the window. For the first time Emily sees her usual confidence dented. There's no trace of her usual smirk, and Emily feels slightly sick in the bottom of her stomach. It takes her a second to place the feeling: guilt. She goes to apologise, but the bell rings, and they don't get another chance to talk for the rest of the class. Alison barely looks up from her work this time, and even though Emily tries her best to concentrate, she can't. She can't help but feel awful for talking to Alison the way she did, and she can't help but glance over at Alison every so often. Again, Emily senses that she isn't really reading the words in front of her. She has been on the first page for just a fraction too long.

Towards the end of the class, Alison happens to glance up at the same time as Emily, and their eyes meet. Alison's face is largely expressionless except for a slightly cocked eyebrow, and Emily feels as if she is testing her, to see what she will do. Emily smiles softly at Alison, trying to send an apology with her eyes. Alison's blue eyes light up once more, and she smiles in return.

Emily resolves to actually apologise to Alison at the end of the class. When the bell rings, takes a deep breath, and says "Alison –" but before she can finish her sentence, Hanna cuts her off

"Emily, come on! We have to get to Math early and get a good seat!" she cries, and literally drags Emily out of the chair. Emily barely even gets a glance back at Alison as Hanna ushers her through the door.

* * *

><p>"And I swear, if you ever come near me again, I'll ruin you," a voice snarls.<p>

Emily turns from her locker at the sound of this harsh voice, and her heart sinks when she realises that the speaker is Alison. Alison has a look of complete distain on her face. Her jaw is set and there is no humour her eyes. The victim of Alison's wrath is Mona Vanderwaal, who Emily had always thought to be perfectly nice. Alison purposely bumps into Mona as she leaves, sending Mona's books falling to the floor. Alison makes a point of stepping over the books and leaving Mona to pick them up for herself, and she starts walking in Emily's direction.

Emily feels sick at the thought that she was actually going to apologise to Alison during English today. Aria had clearly been right. Alison was obviously not a very nice person, and Emily feels like a fool for even entertaining thoughts of liking Alison in _that _way. Yet Alison meets Emily's eyes, and Emily swears that she sees Alison's jaw drop just a fraction. She swears that she might even have glimpsed a hint of shame in those blue eyes, and the fluttering in her stomach tells her that she isn't going to get over Alison that easily.

* * *

><p>Emily has to speak to her swimming coach after school, so she sends Spencer a quick text telling her that they should go on ahead without her. After finishing, she hops in the car and turns the key, and the engine revs for a second before going dead.<p>

"Shit" mutters Emily to herself as she turns the key again. The same thing happens again, and she swears under her breath. Missy has officially blown her last chance. She is even more annoyed because she has to work in about an hour, at The Brew. She hops out of the car and pops open the bonnet, realising that she must have a flat battery. She is considering calling Hanna and asking her for a lift when she hears a voice from behind her.

"I've got jumper leads if you need."

Emily spins around, and there is Alison, twirling her car keys around her fingers.

Emily flushes. "I'm not sure if I want your help after what I saw from you today," she replies evenly.

Alison's jaw sets slightly. "Look, I'm not proud of what I did back there," she says quietly. There is none of the usual amusement in her eyes, and Emily has a gut feeling that Alison is serious. "So let me redeem myself by helping my favorite classmate?" she continues, back to her usual lighthearted tone.

Heat rises to Emily's cheeks at Alison's words, and she just nods dumbly. The spark returns to Alison's eyes, and she runs over to her own car.

Emily can't help it. She is impressed.

"A Benz?" she asks after Alison pulls it into the car park next to Emily

Alison winks through the driver's window. "A benefit of being the daughter of Rosewood's newest leading real-estate agent."

She slides gracefully out of the car and grabs the jumper leads out of the trunk. Emily watches on as Alison expertly connects the leads to Emily's car. She has a sneaking suspicion that Alison doesn't have to bend over quite _that _far to reach the battery of her car, and with the dress Alison is wearing Emily gets quite the view of Alison's figure. And no, she won't complain as Alison leans forward to reach a cable, showing off her toned legs.

"Can you help me for a second?" Alison calls out after about a minute.

Emily walks over and stands on Alison's left. "See that cord there?" Alison asks, nodding towards a cable to her right. "Grab it and hold it for a couple of seconds."

Emily leans forward to grab the cable, before realising that she was going to literally have to lean _on _Alison to reach it. As she leans over Alison she is completely aware of just how close their bodies are. She can feel Alison breathing rapidly as she reaches across for the cord. Every nerve in Emily's body is on end, from her spine to the end of her toes. She can feel Alison's soft hair against her forearm, and she wants nothing more than to run her hand through that blonde river. She can't do that though, so she simply stands there and tries to keep her breathing steady as Alison fiddles with the cables under her.

"Alright that's done," declares Alison, and Emily pulls away. Alison stands up straight, and scratches the back of her head absently for a second. She then hooks up the cords to her own car, before tossing her car keys to Emily. Emily catches them with a surprise, giving Alison a quizzical look.

"Start the engine," Alison smiles. Emily hops into Alison's car. There's traces of Alison's scent in the car, a wonderful mix of floral and vanilla that makes Emily very curious as to what perfume Alison uses. Alison gestures for Emily's own car keys, and she hands them to her. Alison gets into Emily's car and turns the ignition, and after about a minute the engine starts running. She disconnects the cables from Emily's car, before strolling over towards her own car.

"So am I a redeemed individual?" she asks, sliding into the passenger seat.

Emily, who had just been about to get out of the car, is surprised. "Um yeah, I think so," she replies with a smile. Even though she was still wary of the side of Alison she had seen with Mona, Alison really had seemed to be ashamed of her actions. Besides, it was nice of her to go out of her way to help Emily like this.

"I'm glad," says Alison softly, turning her head to meet Emily's eyes. Alison's hand is dangling over the console of the car, and they are so close. It would be so easy for Emily to reach out and tangle her fingers in Alison's. She can imagine Alison's warm palm pressed against her own, how their fingers would intertwine and how content she would be just to sit like that. She has never wanted to hold someone's hand so much in her life. Alison's eyes, shining so brightly, they stirred emotions that Emily had never known lay within her. Those blue eyes were full of so much intrigue, such mystery, that Emily couldn't help but be drawn to Alison. She wants to know everything about Alison. She wanted to know everything, from her birthday to where she grew up, to what flavor pizza she liked best, to her thoughts on the stars and what lay between them and the earth. But for now, she is almost content to have Alison sitting there next to her, a soft smile on her lips that makes Emily feel like she understands her completely, even if they have only known each other for two days.

Alison's phone beeps, and she moves her hand away from the console to answer it. Emily feels disappointed, even though she never would have been game enough to actually reach over and hold Alison's hand. Emily checks her watch, and noticing that she has to start work in just half an hour.

"Thanks for helping me out, but I have to get going now," she says, opening the car door. Alison looks up from her phone, and Emily hears herself continuing. "Oh what's your ph-" she stops suddenly when she realises what she was about to ask, and she starts to blush furiously. "I mean, um, never mind, I really have to go, bye" she stutters. She abruptly gets out of the car before Alison has the chance to reply.

She drives off, completely mortified. She had actually just tried to ask Alison for her phone number. She shakes her head, wondering what the hell she was thinking. She puts it down to being overwhelmed by being so close to Alison, and the fact that Alison was just sitting there smiling at her. She can never think straight when she is around Alison, and with Alison sitting there with her phone, it made sense for her mind to go towards Alison's phone number. But for her to actually almost ask? As she arrives at the Brew, all she can think of is how that must have sounded to Alison. To Alison, that would have been completely random, and it would have made no sense for Emily, a virtual stranger, to start asking that.

For the next hour she goes about her work, glad for once that The Brew is busy, as it stops her from going back over her conversation with Alison. She is restocking the shelves behind the counter, trying to keep her mind occupied, when she turns around, and her jaw drops when she sees a very familiar blonde standing in front of her.

"H-hey." Emily stutters out a greeting, dropping the box of supplies onto the floor. "What can I get for –"

She is silenced by Alison putting a finger to her lips. Alison then leans casually over the counter and grabs Emily's hand, and starts to write something down. When Emily looks down, she sees to her complete shock what can only be a phone number. She looks back up at Alison with astonishment. She tries to say something, but her mouth has actually lost all ability to form words.

"This is what you were asking me for before, wasn't it," Alison says quietly, still holding Emily's hand. It's a statement, not a question. Emily can only nod in response. "Text me," says Alison simply, before turning and leaving without another word.

For about a minute Emily can only stand there and stare at her hand. She touches the spot that Alison was holding, which is still tingling. The next three hours of her shift are the slowest of her life, and when she get's home, she runs up to her room. She has decided that Missy can survive another day after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you guys, so much, I seriously cannot believe I already have more than fifty reviews! I really appreciate the feedback so thank you again! :)**

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><p>Emily's breathing is heavy, and it's not because of the run up the stairs. It's been three hours, and she still cannot believe that she has Alison DiLaurentis' phone number. And it wasn't like Alison just gave it to her in any old way either. Instead, she had waltzed into The Brew and actually written it down on Emily's hand, and then told Emily to text her. Emily's hand was still tingling, and she had to stop herself from touching it all through her shift. Even though Alison did tell her to she is still nervous about texting her. She takes out her phone and enters Alison's number into her contacts, before opening her messaging app. She hovers over Alison's name for a couple of seconds, before she scrolls down and selects Hanna's name instead.<p>

**To Hanna: If your crush gave you their number, what would you do? ;) **She types with a grin. Hanna is going to flip out when she sees this.

True to form, Emily's phone beeps just seconds later.

**From Hanna: OMG Are you joking!**

**From Hanna: You HAVE to text her right now**

**From Hanna: Emily I am freaking out. If you're joking don't speak to me ever again**

Emily laughs to herself as she sees these messages pop up. She knows that she is only putting off texting Alison, and she is enjoying teasing Hanna after yesterday.

**From Emily: Oh I am serious, don't you worry ;)**

**From Hanna: I'm actually SO happy right now**

Emily decides to stop teasing and actually try and get some advice from Hanna.

**From Emily: I'm freaking out as well**

**From Hanna: Ok, just calm down and text her right now**

**From Hanna: And then you seriously have to tell me who she is**

**From Emily: I'll tell you if things get serious**

**From Hanna: Erggh, stop with the torture will you**

Emily smiles at Hanna's enthusiasm, but she still doesn't want to tell Hanna or any of the girls about Alison. It's not just about the others not liking Alison any more now either. She doesn't want the other Hanna and the others to be feeling sorry for her for liking someone who so clearly would never see her in _that _way. She doesn't want to have everyone analyzing her all through English, for the rest of the year, because the seating plan now seems set for the year.

She takes a deep breath to settle her nerves before finally sending Ali a message:

**From Emily: Hey Alison, it's Emily**

She puts her phone face down on her desk, and decides to try and get some homework done, rather than sit around and wait for Alison to reply. She barely gets her books open before her phone beeps. She snatches it up from the desk, anxious to see Alison's reply.

**From Alison: Hey Emily, it's Ali ;)**

Emily raises her eyebrows at Alison's shortening of her name.

**From Emily: Ali? :) **

**From Alison: Yeah. Enough of this Alison nonsense, yes?**

Emily smiles to herself, pleased that Alison is letting her use a nickname. It makes her feel closer to her somehow. She goes back into her contacts and changes Alison's name to Ali, when another notification comes through.

**From Ali: So, how was work? ;)**

Emily's not quite sure how to respond to that.

**From Emily: Different I guess**

And it had been. Ali had made work agonizing, for different reasons. The first half of her shift Emily had been trying her best not to recall the moment when she had almost asked Ali for her number, and the second half she had been staring at her hand, trying to process the fact that Ali had actually come in and written her number on her hand. She was still trying to understand just how that had happened, even as she was texting Ali right now.

**From Ali: You got there on time?**

**From Emily: Yeah, just! Thanks for that**

**From Ali: It was no problem :)**

Emily pauses, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. She wants desperately to keep the conversation going, but she really has no idea what to say next. She smiles when another message comes through, but is surprised at what it says

**From Ali: Are you doing anything right now?**

Emily glances over at her books. She really should be doing homework, but she replies to Ali anyway.

**From Emily: Nope, why's that?**

A couple of seconds later, her phone rings, and she answers halfway through the first ring.

"Hello Emily Fields."

Emily is completely aware of the grin spanning her face as she hears Ali say her name.

"Hello Ali," she replies casually, trying to keep her smile from coming through in her voice. "I can call you that right?"

"Of course," Ali tells her, and she can practically hear Ali rolling her eyes.

Emily's phone beeps suddenly as another message comes through. She pulls it away from her ear, and laughs as she sees the preview of another text from Hanna flash up

**From Hanna: PLEASE tell me you've gone AWOL because you're texting….**

"Other friends more interesting?" Ali asks teasingly.

"No, of course not" replies Emily hurriedly. She cringes, hoping she hadn't been too obvious.

"I almost feel sorry for Hanna, having to compete with me for your time."

"Oh? And since when are you so interesting?" Emily decides to try and go on the offensive.

"Since always. More so since I moved here," Ali replies mysteriously.

"Alright, now I'm intrigued. Do explain."

"You weren't always intrigued?"

Emily's heart jolts, but Alison continues without waiting for a response.

"Let's play a game. You ask me anything – and I mean anything – and I'll answer. That way you'll start to find out just how interesting I am."

"Um." Emily racks her brain. Hadn't she had a whole list of questions she wanted to ask Ali about five hours ago? The only thing she can think to ask Alison is if she is interested in girls, but she would die of embarrassment if that slipped out. So she decides to play it safe. "What's your favorite movie?"

"Oh Emily. That's the most uninteresting thing about me. Mean Girls of course."

"I've actually never seen it," Emily admits.

There's the sound of something clattering to the floor before Ali speaks again. "You're not serious? What sort of childhood did you have?"

"I was busy with swimming," Emily answers lamely.

Ali clicks her tongue. "I tell you what. On Saturday – if you aren't working – we will go Philly, and we will buy Mean Girls on DVD, and we will watch it."

Emily struggles to control her breathing. A day with Ali in Philly? This is beyond her wildest dreams.

"Why do we have to go to Philly just for a DVD?" she asks.

"Because," responds Ali, "it will be an adventure."

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><p>Ali arrives to pick Emily up at 10.00 on Saturday morning, a time Ali had picked so they could have a full day in Philly. She was wearing heels and a The past few days had been the slowest of Emily's life. Hanna had been harassing her all week, trying her best to get Emily to tell her who her crush is, but Emily refused to crack.<p>

Ali winds down the window, eyes twinkling.

"Get in loser, we're going shopping!" she shouts playfully.

Emily laughs as she slides into the passenger seat. "I may not have seen the movie, but I do know half of the quotes," she informs Ali.

"Oh, do you now?" Ali asks as she pulls out of Emily's driveway. "Another quote please," she commands.

"Umm…" Emily's mind has gone blank.

Ali leans over and flicks Emily softly on the side of the head. "You really have a lot to learn."

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><p>"So after we watch it, we're always wearing something pink on Wednesdays," Ali declares as they arrive in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Philadelphia.<p>

The rest of the trip had passed by quickly, and to Emily's relief there was no awkwardness between them. She'd spent the week after her phone call with Ali stressing that they would have nothing to talk about, but the opposite proves to be true. Ali spends the drive attempting to teach Emily the best quotes from Mean Girls, and Emily spends most of the trip in stitches.

"Why's that?"

"Because on Wednesday's we wear pink," Ali replies, raising her eyebrows pointedly.

Emily shakes her head with a smile.

It takes them less than five minutes to find the DVD, and Emily is surprised when Ali insists on buying it for her. "You'll owe me for this, that's the only reason I'm buying it," says Ali, sticking her tongue out at Emily.

Afterwards, they decide to go and grab something for lunch, ending up at a Café near the Museum of Modern Art. Ali leaves to go to the bathroom, so Emily is left to order for them both.

The waiter behind the counter is about twenty years old, with wavy blonde hair. He looks up with a grin at Emily as she approaches.

"Hey lovely," he greets her with a smirk. "I think we can get you a _special_ discount today with no problems at all."

Emily is taken aback by this comment. There was just a bit too much emphasis on the word special there for her liking, and she is already getting the creeps.

"I, um…" she stutters, unsure how to deal with these comments.

"You're the prettiest girl to come in here all day, it's the least we can do," the waiter continues, and Emily is seriously beginning to get creeped out.

"I don't want- "she begins, before she is interrupted.

"She's taken, dirtbag." Emily turns around, and there is Alison, standing with her arms crossed, staring daggers at the waiter. The waiter's face drops, and Emily almost laughs at the way he has clearly realized he picked the wrong target. Alison's eyes flash dangerously, as she takes a step towards the counter. The waiter actually recoils as Alison leans in to speak to him.

"I bet you're pretty impressed with yourself right now," she says sarcastically. "You've just hit on a girl who already has a _girl_friend. Yes, you heard me right" she informs him as his eyebrows fly up in shock. "So I suggest you keep in it your pants and out of the streets from now on. We can't have you staining this lovely neighborhood. Come on Emily, we're leaving," she announces, grabbing Emily by the hand. "Also, I'm sure your manager will be delighted to hear about you sexually harassing your customers, _Samuel," _she says witheringly, before grabbing a customer feedback sheet off of the counter. The waiter – or Samuel, as Ali had called him – just stared dumbly at his name tag as Ali and Emily left the café.

Ali is still holding Emily's hand when they are halfway down the street, before she drops it to scratch her head. Emily can tell that Ali is fuming, but she doesn't get why Ali cares so much. Ali stares at the ground as they walk into another café and buy a few sandwiches. Her cheeks are flushed red, and it's the first time that Emily has ever seen Ali's cool demeanor completely rattled. They don't speak again before they sit down on the steps at the Museum of Modern Art to eat. Emily takes a deep breath.

"Ali?" she probes nervously.

"Yeah?" Ali takes a bite out of her sandwich before looking up at Emily.

"How did you know that I'm – that I'm gay?" This has been weighing on Emily's mind ever since Ali had said in the café that Emily had a girlfriend.

"Someone mentioned it at lunch the other day," Ali replies.

"Oh." Emily nibbles at her own sandwich. "I didn't realize people were still talking about it."

"They aren't."

Emily's brow furrows in confusion. "Then why –"

"I asked if you had a boyfriend or not," Ali looks away into the distance. "I was curious."

"Oh." Is all Emily can say again. She wants nothing more than to ask Ali _why _she was so curious, and if Ali had a boyfriend herself. She bites her lip nervously, before turning to look over at Ali again. She chooses a safer question.

"Why are you so annoyed about that guy in the café?"

Alison's jaw tightens, and she looks back into Emily's eyes again. "Because I hate guys who treat women like their personal property," she answers, and something in Ali's voice makes Emily think that she is talking from experience. "And because you deserve better than that," she continues, still making eye contact with Emily.

Emily blushes, flattered that Ali seems to care about her so much.

"I'm sorry," is all she says in response.

"For what?" now it's Alison's turn to look confused.

"For if a guy has treated you that way before," Emily answers.

"It's not you that has to be sorry Emily. It's the world."

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><p>"See that woman over there?" asks Ali, pointing towards a woman with dark hair and a red trench coat. "Her name is Vivian Darkbloom, and she has just migrated over here from France, on the run for the murder of a high-ranking police officer."<p>

Two hours after finishing their lunch, Ali and Emily still haven't moved from their spot on the steps. Instead, they have started making up stories for random people on the street. Names, birthdays, careers, children, parents, grandparents, they could have the entire life story of a person written just from a glimpse of them on the street. Ali's creativity has had Emily amazed a few times, and she shakes her head in amusement at Ali's latest story.

"No wonder English is your favorite subject," she says.

Ali looks back at her with a cocked eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"You're good at making up stories," Emily smiles.

"Oh." Ali takes a deep breath, and opens her mouth, before closing it again. "So, anyway, Vivian has three younger brothers back at home that depend on her money for support - "

"What about you Ali?" Emily interjects.

"What about me?" Ali asks, puzzled.

Emily hesitates for half a second, surprised with how forward she is being. "What's your story?"

"My story." Ali leans back on the step before continuing. "I told you I was interesting, didn't I?"

Emily just nods, having no idea where this was going.

"And I am. But I also think you are interesting."

Emily's stomach flips strangely at Ali's comment. Ali is looking over at her, and her eyes give no sign that she is making fun of Emily. In fact, she seems to be completely serious.

"Tell me about you Emily," Ali murmurs. And so Emily does. She tells Ali how her Dad is in the military, so he's always in Texas and they never get to see him. She tells Ali how her Mom often works late at the police station, so they never get to see her. She tells Ali random stories about her friends from Rosewood, and about them. How people probably saw Spencer as being stuffy and bookish, when really she was witty and driven to succeed. How Aria was so quirky and unique, but also so caring and loyal. And how even though

And she notices how Ali reacts to all of her stories. She notices how Ali frowns when she says how she rarely sees her Dad, how her jaw sets when she says she never sees her mom. She notices the way Ali laughs until tears form in her eyes at the time Hanna decided to microwave her Easter eggs – with the foil on – when they were in the eighth grade. And most of all she notices how Ali seems to be taking in everything she is saying. It's as if Emily's stories really matter to her.

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><p>"Oh god, it's already 5.30!" cries Emily after what seems like only half an hour.<p>

Ali groans. They decide to start travelling home, and Emily uses the journey as an opportunity to ask Ali about her own life. She learns that Ali grew up in Georgia, and that she lived next door to her grandmother. She mentions at one stage that she hates pineapple on her pizza, which Emily smiles at after yesterday. Ali's eyes light up and she sounds wistful when talking about her early childhood, but Emily can't help but notice that Ali doesn't talk about High School in any great detail. She doesn't talk about her friends in the same way that Emily had talked about her own friends, and Emily can't shake the nagging feeling that Ali is neglecting these details on purpose.

A few streets before they reach Ali's house, Emily sighs. "I don't think we have enough time to watch the movie tonight, my mom will kill me if I stay out past curfew."

"I'd actually forgotten about that," Ali admits with a smile.

"You'd forgotten about Mean Girls?" Emily says, poking her tongue out.

"Sure did." They drive past Ali's place and arrive at Emily's a few minutes later.

"Thanks for today Ali," Emily says as she unbuckles her seat belt.

"No problem."

Emily steps out of the car and shuts the door, before Ali winds the window down. "I had fun today Em," she says seriously.

Emily gasps at the use of her nickname. She likes it how Ali has taken it upon herself to call her that. "Me too," she smiles in return.

Ali clears her throat. "Well, I guess I'll see you at school then?"

"Sure."

Ali winds the window up halfway, before peering back at Emily with a smirk. "You know, we still have that movie to watch."

And as Ali drives off into the distance, Emily decides she doesn't need to watch Mean Girls to know that it's her favourite movie.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you again to all those who reviewed! A special thank you to the Anon reviewer who pointed out my errors in proofreading. There were some shocking errors in the last chapter, which I hope are gone now, so no more proofreading at 3am for me! This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but it's important for future events :) Enjoy!**

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><p>"Who," says Hanna as she bangs her lunch tray down on the table, "does Alison DiLaurentis think she is?"<p>

It's the Thursday following Emily's trip with Ali, and since then, Emily had texted Ali a few times. In Right now she is texting Ali under the table, complaining about Biology, and trying not to blush as Ali winks at her from the other side of the cafeteria. She'd learnt a lot about Ali through their texts, but right now, there are more pressing issues, and something in Hanna's tone – and her bright red face – is telling her that she really does not want to know who Alison DiLaurentis thinks she is.

"What's happened now?" asks Spencer, not even bothering to look up from the textbook she was reading.

Hanna glares at her. "What's happened now? Alison has been here for all of four seconds, and she already thinks she owns the place. Today in Gym she actually told me that I couldn't be the captain for Volleyball because I'm too 'hefty' to be of any use. And she said I should lay off the Easter Eggs if I ever want to be popular."

Emily feels her stomach sink at Hanna's words. She looks up at Ali, who is throwing her head back as she laughs at something someone is saying on her table. She scans the people on that table, and notes exactly who they are: popular, outgoing, and certainly not 'hefty' as Ali had called Hanna. Ali is perfectly at home with the people on that table, and Emily feels slightly sick, as it's clear that Alison DiLaurentis would never deign herself to associate with a group like Emily's publicly.

"Hanna, that's awful," consoles Aria. Spencer also attempts to comfort Hanna, but Emily cannot find the ability to form words. She turns her phone off, and places it face down on the table. She can see Ali out of the corner of her eye on her own phone, but she refuses to look up and make eye contact with her.

"I just," Hanna says, before taking a deep breath. "You guys know I've always had issues with my weight, and I finally thought I had it under control, but apparently not." Her face has softened and her eyes are now filled with tears. Aria hands her a tissue, and Hanna sniffles, and is trying not to let the tears fall. Emily still hasn't been able to say anything, and she hates herself for it.

Hanna stand up abruptly. "I really have to go to the bathroom."

"I'll come," Emily hears herself saying, and she follows Hanna out of the cafeteria.

They reach the bathroom, and Hanna leans against the sink, fighting back the tears. Emily tries to comfort her by patting her on the back, feeling useless.

"Hanna, you can't listen to what people say," she says after a minute.

"I know Em. But it's just so hard when someone like that comes strutting in all perfect, and then has everybody love her after about five minutes, and then they turn around and say that."

Emily feels guilty as she is one of those people Hanna was talking about. Ali had her under her spell from the moment she met her, and now she was beginning to wonder if she'd been played like a fool. She just stands there with Hanna again, not trusting herself to speak.

Hanna stands up after a couple of moments, wiping her eyes. "Thanks Em. I do feel a bit better now." She gives Emily a quick hug before heading back out to the cafeteria, but Emily stays back to actually use the bathroom.

Emily is drying her hands, when who should come crashing in but Alison – she can't possibly think of her as Ali right now. She feels a flash of anger at the sight of the familiar blonde, and she can feel her hands shaking as she opens her mouth to speak.

"How could you?" she asks, taking a step towards Alison. Alison's mouth closes, and it's obvious that she had wanted to get the first words in, but Emily could not care less. "How could you say something like that to Hanna?"

"Emily, I can explain."

"You might be able to explain, but I don't want to hear it." Emily pushes past Alison as she walks towards the door. "I had a really great time on Saturday you know. I can't believe you would ruin it like that."

Emily opens the door, but Alison grabs her hand and lightly pulls her back towards the sink. And damn it if Emily can't feel her hand sweating already at Alison's touch.

"I had a great time on Saturday as well you know," she says softly, and Emily feels her cheeks heat up. "And I really am sorry."

Emily looks into Alison's eyes, and Alison returns the eye contact. Emily can see no trace of insincerity in Alison's gaze, but she takes a step back.

"I have to go," she says, dropping Alison's hand. She pushes open the bathroom door, but allows herself one last glance back at Alison as the door closes behind her. Alison is biting her lip, staring down at the hand that Emily was just holding.

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><p>When Emily gets home from school that night, she is still thinking about Alison and her comments to Hanna. Although she believed Alison's apology, it is still weighing on her mind. She feels a need to talk to Alison about their conversation. Emily picks up her phone, considering texting Ali, but puts her phone back in her pocket, sighing. Ali probably isn't going to reply to any texts she sent to her tonight. She contemplates just waiting until school tomorrow, but a stirring within her stomach tells her that she won't be able to leave it for that long. So she sends Spencer a text, making up some excuse about needing help for English homework. Luckily Spencer buys it, and Emily arrives at her house ten minutes later.<p>

To her disappointment, Ali is nowhere in sight this time. She figures she can't invite herself over to Ali's house, so she walks towards Spencer's instead, sighing inwardly when she realizes that she is actually going to have to pretend to be interested in her English homework.

She is sitting on Spencer's bed, attempting to concentrate on her analysis of _Great Expectations._ But it's quite difficult, as the first thing she had noticed when she arrived is that Spencer's window looks directly into what can only be Ali's bedroom. There's nobody in the room at the moment, but Emily has been keeping an eye out for the past half an hour. She can hear Spencer somewhere in the distance saying something, but it may as well be French for all she knows.

"… I think Dickens wants his audience to believe that – " Spencer stops halfway through her sentence. Emily is gazing out the window, absently scratching her chin with her pen, and Spencer looks from the window and back to Emily with raised eyebrows.

"Emily Fields."

The change in Spencer's tone snaps Emily straight out of her thoughts. She looks back at Spencer, who stands up and promptly closes the curtains.

"Hey don't –" she begins, but is cut off.

"Did you really need help with your English homework?" Spencer asks, crossing her arms.

"No."

"And did you come over here just hoping to get a glimpse of my new next door neighbor?"

"Possibly."

"And is there any chance that Alison DiLaurentis is your mystery crush?"

"Yes," answers Emily in a small voice.

Spencer sighs. "You really know how to pick them, don't you?"

Emily flops down onto the bed, burying her face in Spencer's pillow. "It's pointless. I don't even know if she's into girls." And she is surprised at how shaky her voice sounds.

Spencer sits down next to Emily. "You're serious about this, aren't you?" she says quietly.

Emily moves her face away from the pillow. "Well we were texting the other day and she seemed really nice and then –"

"Wait, slow down. You were texting her?"

"Yeah. She gave me her number at The Brew the other day."

Spencer just nods thoughtfully, before Emily continues.

"And then we went to Philly on Saturday and it was really great –"

"You went to Philly?" Spencer interrupts again, surprised.

"Well, yes. She wanted me to see Mean Girls, so we went and bought the DVD."

The corners of Spencer's mouth are turning upwards, and Emily suspects she is suppressing a smile. "What?" she asks pointedly.

"Let me get this straight. So she gave you your number, and took you all the way to Philly just to get a DVD?" and by now there's a smile plastered across her entire face.

Emily nods. "Yeah, but so what. That's just what friends do isn't it? Like we do that sort of thing all the time."

"Maybe. But seriously Emily. She came into your work, gave you your number, and then purposely turned buying a DVD – which would normally take five minutes – into a day trip. She clearly likes you a lot."

Emily opens her mouth to say something else before Spencer continues. "And look, maybe she isn't into girls. But she obviously likes you – even if just as a friend – so there's no harm in finding out."

By now, Emily is grinning widely. She gives Spencer a hug. "How did you become so wise?" she asks, laughing.

"By reading the clues right in front of me," Spencer answers, and Emily shakes her head in amazement.

* * *

><p>"So I can't host girls' night tomorrow night, because Mom is inviting Pastor Ted over for dinner," says Hanna, rolling her eyes.<p>

It's lunch time the next day, and Hanna is referring to what a tradition that had started over the summer called Girls' Night. Every month one of the girls would host a sleepover, and this month it had been planned for Hanna to be the host. The plan had been for them to leave the sleepovers behind once senior year started, but in the end it became an unspoken rule that the tradition would be continuing.

"I'll host it," says Spencer, a fraction too quickly for Emily's liking. She narrows her eyes at Spencer, who tactfully avoids all eye contact with Emily.

They spend the rest of the lunch period discussing arrangements, and Emily pulls Spencer aside when the bell rings.

"What are you doing?" she hisses.

Spencer just gives her a knowing smile in return, and Emily is suddenly much less keen for girl's night than she was an hour ago.

* * *

><p>"Who wants some of this vodka I stole from my mom's liquor cabinet?" cries Hanna.<p>

Girl's night has begun, and they are all set up in Spencer's barn. They usually looked forward to Spencer hosting these nights the most, because they could stay in the barn and not have to worry about any parents interfering.

"Won't she notice that it's missing?" asks Aria.

"Well yeah, but she won't think that _I _took it."

"But who else would have taken it?"

"That's beside the poi- "

"Shut it you guys," Spencer interrupts in a bored tone.

Hanna pouts, before opening the bottle of vodka and taking a swig.

"Hanna!" admonishes Spencer.

"What? Do you think I could go harder?"

"No! Here, just pass me the bottle will you?"

Hanna hands over the bottle obligingly, and Spencer takes a swig herself. She hands it to Emily next.

"I have a swim meet – "

"Oh that's like two weeks away. Drink up," says Hanna dismissively.

Emily shrugs, and takes a mouthful. She shakes her head as the alcohol burns down her throat, trying not to cough.

The bottle is passed around the group several times, and before long Emily can see the room spinning. After Aria finishes the bottle, they turn the overhead lights off so that there is only a lantern in the middle of the circle illuminating the room. Spencer leaves to go to the bathroom, leaving the others sitting around the lantern.

"I have the best idea in the world!" exclaims Hanna after a few seconds.

"If it involves Easter Eggs and a microwave, count me out," says Aria.

Hanna rolls her eyes. "No. It's far better than that idea," she says seriously. "Let's play Past Lovers!"

Emily's stomach sinks to the ground. This is a million times _worse _than the Easter Egg idea. For a fleeting second she wishes she could swap positions with the eggs in the microwave, because any game involving the word 'lovers' is never going to end well for her right now.

"What's Past Lovers?" asks Aria, oblivious to Emily's discomfort.

"It's where we tell everyone about our past and present loves," Hanna answers importantly. "So, Emily," she continues sweetly. "Who _is _your present love?"

"I, um," Emily stutters. Her brain is completely foggy, and she is regretting that last shot of vodka. "Well –"

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce our special guest for tonight's proceedings," Spencer's voice interrupts from the entrance to the barn. A special guest to Girls' Night is so unprecedented that Past Lovers is put on hold as every head in the barn flies up in curiosity.

"I would like to present to you my very own next door neighbor: Alison DiLaurentis."


	6. Chapter 6

**I know I say this every time, but thank you yet again to everyone who read and reviewed! I just wanted to address one guest reviewer, to say that with the Mona thing, just remember we are only seeing this through Emily's eyes, and she only came in at the end of that argument, and so there may just be more to that story ;)**

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><p>"Alison! You're looking fine tonight!" Emily hears herself call out. Her embarrassment at being interrogated by Hanna is all but forgotten as the effects of the alcohol have completely set in by now. Alison walks into the barn wearing jeans and a pink sweater, and Emily finds herself moving in the circle to make room for Alison.<p>

"There's a spare spot next to Emily," sounds Spencer's smug voice as she closes the door to the barn. Emily shoots Spencer an unconvincing glare, well aware that she is half smiling.

As Alison takes a seat next to Emily, Hanna's mouth is agape. After a few seconds, she sets her jaw and crosses her arms, and a steely resolve appears in her eyes.

"Alison," she says simply

"Hanna."

_Oh. _In her surprise to see Alison, she had completely forgotten about today's events. Emily flicks her eyes between Alison and Hanna. Hanna is trying her best to glare at Alison, but the effect is slightly ruined by the fact that her eyes are struggling to focus. Alison is biting her bottom lip, and Emily swears that she is trying not to laugh at the whole ridiculous situation.

After a few seconds, Emily snorts. Everyone stares at her, but she couldn't care less. Because really, the whole situation is hilarious. Hanna's glare is losing whatever little power it had in the first place as she tries not to laugh at Emily herself. Eventually it is Alison who speaks next.

"What's so funny Em?" she asks, trying to suppress a smirk.

"They're on nickname terms?" Emily hears Hanna mutter somewhere off in the distance

"Oh you know, just, wasn't expecting to see you here!" she answers breezily.

Alison raises an eyebrow. Emily tries her best to raise her own eyebrow in return, but she just can't master the action the way Alison does it. Her failure earns a light laugh from Alison, and she feels almost validated in her efforts. She loves it how Alison's laugh always meets those lovely blue eyes.

She turns around as Spencer sits down next to her. "Why is she here anyway?" she whispers, surprised at how slurred her voice is.

Spencer pats her clumsily on the leg. "I have a plan."

"I'm expecting big things."

Hanna clears her throat. "Anyway," she says importantly, "We were just in the middle of Past Lovers."

_Shit. _She had completely forgotten about that stupid game.

This time both of Alison's eyebrows fly up. "Past Lovers?"

"Abort plan," mutters Spencer, as Hanna ties to explain the rules of the 'game' to Alison.

"Abort - are you kidding?"

Spencer just shrugs. "I wasn't planning on Hanna coming up with something as stupid as this."

After making a mental note to murder both Spencer and Hanna when she sobers up, Emily makes a quick decision to take charge. "Find a bottle," she says abruptly.

"Wow Em, I never knew that you were such a big drinker!" exclaims Hanna.

"No! Where's the empty bottle gone?"

Aria, who had been quiet ever since Alison entered the room, speaks next. "Hanna threw it over there before," she says, pointing to one corner of the barn.

"Well, I didn't think we were go-"

"Hanna, come and help me look," Emily interrupts Hanna's protest. She tries to stand up, but she stands far too quickly for the amount of alcohol she has drank, and she somehow falls straight into the middle of the circle and smashes the lantern.

"Emily!" cries Hanna as the room goes dark.

"Oops," mumbles Emily. Spencer turns a torch on as Emily tries to crawl back to her spot in the circle. In the process she ends up grabbing someone's leg, and she catches a very familiar scent of floral and vanilla. "Hey, what perfume do you wear? You smell really nice," she tells Alison, and she can hear Spencer snorting in the background.

"That's my secret," says Alison with a quick wink.

"You shouldn't wink like that you know, it makes me - "

Her sentence is interrupted by Spencer coughing loudly. "The bottle Emily?" she asks pointedly.

"Oh yeah." She wanders over to the corner of the barn that Aria had pointed to, and finds the bottle after a few seconds. To her annoyance, Hanna hadn't bothered to follow her. She really needs to talk to that girl. Something needs to be done about 'Past Lovers.'

"What's the bottle for?" asks Aria, as Emily sits back down in the circle.

"Spin the bottle to pick who has to confess. At least make this game interesting," she answers casually.

"Hold on!" Spencer cries. She rustles around in her coat pocket and produces another flask. "I almost forgot about this. I stole it from Melissa's stash before I saw Alison. Vodka as well," she says, pre-empting Hanna's question.

"Spencer, I love you," gushes Hanna. She holds out a hand. "Now pass it over."

Spencer pulls away from Hanna's outstretched hand. "Not so fast. If we think you're lying, you have to take a mouthful. Agreed?"

"Agreed," reply Hanna, Aria and Alison in unison. Hanna and Alison glare at each other for a second, before Hanna shifts her gaze to Emily.

"What about you Em? Is this because you have something to hide?"

"No, of course not," she replies, fully aware that her lie isn't fooling anyone. As a distraction, she leans forward and spins the bottle. Five pairs of eyes are glued to the empty vodka bottle as it spins rapidly around the circle, and Emily can feel her heart pounding as it begins to slow down. After a few seconds, the bottle stops whilst facing Aria, much to Emily's relief. As the interrogation of Aria begins, Emily pulls her phone out of her pocket and selects her most recent contact.

**From Emily: Past Lovers?**

Her phone vibrates just seconds later.

**From Ali: I was thinking present, but okay ;)**

Emily stares at her phone in confusion. It takes her a moment to realize that Ali had been the last person she'd been texting that day, and not Hanna like usual. She looks up to see the corners of Alison's mouth twitching with amusement. She bites her lip, before mentally shrugging and arriving at a decision.

**From Emily: What did I say about that wink?**

**From Ali: You never finished your sentence. I was disappointed ;)**

"Spin the bottle again," says Alison after Aria finishes confessing to having a crush on Mr. Fitz. Aria obliges, and they wait expectantly for a few seconds, before the bottle eventually comes to a rest right between Emily and Alison.

There is an awkward silence for a few seconds, before Emily takes a mental deep breath and decides to bite the bullet.

"I haven't dated anyone since I came out," she says in a casual tone that she is certainly not feeling. "Waiting for the right person and all that you know."

Emily hears Alison breathe out heavily next to her before she speaks. "I haven't dated anyone in a long time either," she says after a second.

"But you have dated people?" Spencer prompts. Emily can tell by the way that Spencer is carefully avoiding eye contact with her that she knows exactly why she is asking. The small part of Emily that doesn't want to murder her is grateful that Spencer is asking these questions.

Because in reality, Alison DiLaurentis' sexuality is a complete and utter mystery to her. The curiosity is starting to kill her, really. To this day, Alison had given her absolutely no indication as to whether she is into guys or girls. Not even so much as a comment about a girl somewhere on the street being cute that could at least give Emily _something to _hold onto.

Alison laughs for a second, as Emily takes a deep breath. "Yeah, a couple of people. It wasn't like they were my soul mates or anything though."

Emily curses inwardly. _People. They. _Of course Alison would go and use gender neutral pronouns.

"Should we make her drink?" asks Hanna, holding the flask out expectantly.

"No!" exclaims Emily. "I think she's telling the truth," she says more quietly.

Alison flashes her with a grateful smile.

Hanna rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I got the truth today at school," she mutters.

The smile falls from Alison's face. "Hanna, I'm -"

"Oh, don't you worry about it," Hanna interjects sweetly. "I suppose I forgot my place. I'm supposed to bow down to Queen DiLaurentis, aren't I? Silly me, I -"

"Hanna, for gods' sake, I don't think I'm a queen," Alison snaps.

Hanna stares at Alison with an open mouth for a moment. "Well why would you say something like that then?" she asks eventually.

It's a question that Emily has been wondering herself, but has been too scared to ask.

She turns to face Alison, almost afraid of what her answer will be. Alison is staring at the ground, and she is tapping her hand against her leg. If Emily didn't know better, she would think that Alison was actually _nervous _about answering Hanna.

"I don't think I'm a Queen," Alison repeats, this time in a much softer tone. "Quite the opposite actually."

"Well-" starts Hanna, but Alison continues.

"Back in Georgia, I guess I was the Queen," she says. The room falls silent at Alison's words. "I was insecure, I tore people down, I used people's secrets against them to make myself feel better." She is still staring at the ground, and Emily senses that this is the first time that Alison has admitted this even to herself, let alone actually said it out loud. "I never had any real friends, I just used them to build up my own reputation. Then I came here, and it's obvious to everyone how close you guys are, and I guess I was jealous. Then Emily told me that story about you and the Easter Eggs, Hanna, and I came and used that against you."

Now she looks up and meets Hanna in the eye. "I had no idea that you'd had issues with your weight Hanna. If I did, I never would have said anything. I'm really sorry for ever opening my stupid mouth."

Alison is biting her top lip. and it's almost as if she is trying to hold back tears. Emily is shocked at how vulnerable Alison is, but she figures it makes sense. It explains why Alison never told her any stories about her friends in Georgia.

Hanna considers Alison with a studied expression for what feels like a good ten minutes. Emily's stomach is tied up in knots at Alison's words, and she can barely make sense of them right now whilst she waits for Hanna's reaction.

Hanna shifts her gaze to Emily, and Emily suddenly feels nervous for a completely different reason. There's a strangely devious light in Hanna's eyes right now, and she has no idea what to expect.

"We swore never to speak of the Easter Egg Incident ever again, did we not?" Hanna asks sweetly.

"Well -"

"We did."

Hanna holds out the flask of Vodka towards Emily with a pointed look on her face. "Drink up."

"What!" Emily protests.

"This is your punishment, Emily Fields. I want to see you trashed."

Emily looks into Hanna's eyes, and realizes with a sinking feeling that Hanna is deadly serious. She picks up the flask and puts it to her lips, figuring that she might just be able to get away with a tiny sip. No sooner has she had this thought, when Hanna leans over and tips the flask forward into Emily's mouth.

Emily coughs and splutters at the taste of the alcohol burning down her throat. When she recovers, all she can see is Hanna doubled over, and it takes Emily about five seconds to realize that she is laughing. When Hanna looks up, she has tears of laughter running down her face.

She has to take a few seconds to gather her breath before speaking. "Oh that was so worth it just to see your face!" She declares gleefully.

Emily stares at her in horror. Several plans for revenge are flying through her mind, each nastier than the one that came before it. Before long she hears a chuckle from Spencer, and Aria soon follows suit. Even Alison gets in on the act, and Emily is left wondering when it was that the whole room turned against her. She opens her mouth to give Hanna a piece of her mind, before one glance at Alison's face sends her into a fit of laughter as well. Alison is wiping tears away from her eyes, Spencer is holding her stomach, and Aria's face is bright red. Meanwhile, Hanna is looking just a tad too self-satisfied for Emily's liking.

Emily figures that she has to admit the whole situation is quite funny. And even though Hanna hadn't actually said she'd forgiven Alison, the tension in the room seems to have died down, and she's happy enough about that for now.

"Hanna Marin, I am going to kill you," Emily declares, but she can hear the laughter in her voice.

Hanna sends her a smug smile and leans forward to spin the bottle again. Before she reaches the bottle however, Spencer grabs her outstretched arm.

"Forget Past Lovers," she says.

Hanna gasps in horror. "Spencer! I spent weeks coming up with that game!"

Spencer rolls her eyes. "Let's play Never Have I Ever instead." She walks over to the side of the barn, finds some plastic cups and brings them over to the circle. She takes the flask of vodka and pours an even amount into each cup, before handing one to each person.

"I'll start," Hanna announces, having seemingly made a quick recovery from Spencer putting an end to Past Lovers. "Never have I ever had a crush on a teacher."

"Hanna!" Aria complains, before taking a drink. Much to Emily's surprise, Spencer also takes a subtle drink.

"Who!?" asks everybody else in unison.

"Well, you know how I really loved 8th grade math?" Spencer says slowly.

"You love all math, but go on," Hanna pipes up.

Spencer narrows her eyes at Hanna before continuing. "Well, I thought Mr. Brady was rather attractive," she admits sheepishly.

Everyone apart from Alison bursts back into giggles at this revelation.

"Spencer, he was at least 40!" Hanna says through her giggles.

"I thought he had nice eyes," Spencer retorts lamely, but the corners of her mouth are twitching. "Anyway," she continues. "Never have I ever kissed another girl.

Emily just barely refrains from rolling her eyes. Spencer isn't even being subtle with this game anymore. She takes a quick sip of her drink, but nearly spits it straight back out when she sees Alison raise her own cup to her lips.

"What! When?" questions Hanna eagerly.

"Like last year or something," Alison answers nonchalantly. "It was nothing serious though, more like practice. You know, for the real thing."

_Practice. _That is the only word that Emily can hear right now, as Aria starts another Never Have I Ever. _Practice. _Of course. Of course Alison DiLaurentis would never take kissing another girl seriously. Of course Alison would like boys. Emily tries to look at Alison, but she can't, as her vision is blurry, and she wipes her eyes, realizing to her horror that she is almost crying.

She abruptly announces to the group that she has to go to the bathroom, and she practically runs out of the barn. She just needs to get some fresh air. She sits underneath a tree a couple of meters away, and buries her head in her hands. She tries to control her breathing, but she dissolves into a hiccupping, sobbing mess. She might only have known Alison for a couple of weeks, but she'd really _hoped _that there might be some faint chance that Alison could feel the same way about her. And for as long as she hadn't known that Alison had kissed girls just for _practice, _that hope had seemed real, it had been something she could cling onto. Now she just feels hollow inside where that hope had been.

She hears some footsteps crunching behind her after a couple of minutes. "Spencer, I'm fine, I don't need your pity," she says, trying frantically to wipe her tears on her sleeve.

"It's not Spencer." Emily looks up in surprise, as Alison takes a seat on the ground next to her. Alison gives her a small smile before looking off into the distance. "You probably think I'm a terrible person," she says with a note of resignation in her voice.

Emily stares at her in confusion. "I don't think you're a terrible person," she says slowly.

Alison smiles softly to herself before turning to look at Emily. "I don't know why, I would if I were you."

Emily looks back at Alison, and she is surprised to see that there are tears in her blue eyes.

"Where are you going with this Alison?" she asks, her boldness coming as somewhat of a shock to her.

Alison clears her throat before answering. "I'm not a good person Emily. I did some awful things to people back home. You heard what I said to Hanna today." She pauses for a couple of seconds before continuing. "Em, that thing about practice, I didn- "

Emily shakes her head. "I don't want to talk about that." The last thing she can handle hearing right now is some speech from Alison about how she doesn't value gay relationships any less than straight ones, only they aren't for her. "Ali, I don't think you're a terrible person," she repeats. "I really did have a great day with you in Philly. I saw the real you then, I know it."

Alison reaches over and squeezes Emily's hand. "I think you did too," she says quietly.

Although she truly believes every word she had just said to Alison, she needs to say something else. "What about that thing with Mona?" she asks, She hadn't been able to get the way Alison had spoken to Mona that day out of her mind ever since she had seen it happen.

Alison withdraws her hand from Emily's at this question. Her expression hardens, and she clenches her jaw for a second. She visibly tries to calm herself down before speaking again.

"Mona is a completely different issue," she says through gritted teeth. "I - " her words are interrupted by a rustling from a bush about ten meters to their right.

"Hanna?" Emily calls out, but nobody answers.

The color drains from Alison's face. "It's not Hanna," she whispers in a shaky voice. "Look, I have to go," she says urgently.

"What? At least let me come with you," Emily protests.

Alison smiles at her sadly. "Not a good idea." She stands up, and takes a step away. "Listen -" she begins, but she is interrupted by another noise from the bush, and she takes a couple of quick steps towards her house. "I'm sorry," she says seriously. "About everything."

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading! Just a note that I am going away on holiday on Sunday, so I won't be able to update for about a week. But I can promise that this story won't be forgotten!<strong>

**Also, in case anyone is wondering, no, Hanna won't be letting Ali get off that easily ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, I know I said at the end of the last chapter that I wouldn't be able to update for a week because I'm going away, but I've been excited to write this chapter for a long time, so I somehow managed to find the time write this one up. This will definitely be my last update for at least a week though, because my flight is in about three hours haha. Anyway, this is my favourite chapter so far by a mile, and I really hope you'll see why!**

**Also: 100 reviews! Oh my god, I am squealing. Thank you once again to all of those who reviewed.**

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><p>"What I don't get," says Hanna as Emily opens her locker, "Is why you didn't go over to the bush straight away and see who was there."<p>

Through an incredible show of self-restraint, Emily just manages to refrain from hitting Hanna over the head with a textbook. "Hanna, we've been through this," she answers through gritted teeth. "I wasn't exactly in a position to play the detective, no thanks to you and the vodka."

It's almost two weeks since the night in Spencer's barn, and Emily has about reached her limit at these questions. It's all any of her friends have been able to talk about ever since, and Emily is just as confused as them as to what had happened. After Alison had left, Emily had gone straight back into the barn and told everyone what had happened, and they had all gone out as a group and inspected the bush, but they hadn't been able to find any sign of anyone being there.

Hanna had claimed that Alison had probably made up the entire story as a way of getting them to feel sorry for her, but Emily had a gut feeling that this wasn't it. She was sure she had heard the rustling in the bushes as well, and Alison had looked genuinely scared. What had her the most confused was the way that Alison almost seemed to _know _who was watching them. The way her face had gone white after Emily had called out to Hanna… but then Emily wasn't even sure she could trust her own memory of that night. She'd woken up the next morning with a throbbing headache, and she wasn't sure if she'd somehow just convinced herself that she'd heard a noise from the bushes.

"Besides," Emily continues. "What would I have done if there had of been someone waiting back there with an axe?"

Hanna smiles at Emily's hypothetical. "I know, I know." She sighs. "I just don't get it, that's all."

"You and me both." She grabs her swimming gear out of her locker before continuing. "It was so strange Hanna," she says quietly. "I don't know what was going on, but there is more to that Mona story, I know that for sure."

Hanna nods thoughtfully. "Have you talked to her yet?"

"Alison? No." She bangs the door to her locker shut. She hadn't. She'd texted Alison the other day to see if she was okay, but Alison had just replied saying not to worry about it. And then Alison had carefully avoided her gaze during their classes. She'd been the last one to arrive to class and the first one to leave, and so Emily hadn't had a chance to speak to her. She'd half considered going over to Alison's house one day after school, but the thought almost made her feel sick. She's been feeling confused about Alison for the best part of two weeks, but strangely she hadn't felt angry at Alison. She'd been_ worried. _One thing that she did know for sure about that night was that Alison had been completely afraid, and she knew that it couldn't be about something trivial.

"That might be about to change," Hanna announces suddenly. Emily looks up with a start to see Alison walking down the hallway straight towards them.

"Come to explain to us what the hell is going on have you?" Hanna asks harshly before Alison has a chance to speak. This time her glare at Alison is completely focused.

"I'd rather speak to Emily alone," Alison says softly, ignoring Hanna's outburst.

"Oh, and what information is so privileged that I can't hear it?" Hanna asks sarcastically.

Alison sets her jaw. "This has nothing to do with you Hanna," she says evenly.

"What! This has everything to do with me. I've been wondering why the hell you ran away from a freaking bush as well you know!"

"It's not about that!" Alison exclaims.

"Well what the hell is it about then!"

Emily has just been watching this whole argument unfold like a spectator at a tennis match, her head going backwards and forwards from Hanna to Alison. By now, Hanna's face is the shade of a tomato, whereas Alison has a look of determination on her face. After a second, Alison sighs.

"Fine, if you must listen." She turns to face Emily, clearing her throat. "Emily I-"

"You know what, I don't think Emily wants to hear it," Hanna snaps. "She has a swim meet to get to, and she doesn't need anyone like _you _distracting her." Hanna grabs Emily's arm and pulls her down the hallway, leaving Alison standing open mouthed at Emily's locker.

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><p>About fifteen minutes later, Emily is strolling towards the locker rooms, trying her best to rid her mind of Alison. Part of her is slightly annoyed at Hanna for dragging her away from Alison, but she also knows that Hanna is right. She needs to focus on this meet. Rumor had it that a scout from Danby would be there, and she needs to perform.<p>

Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of someone coughing behind her. She turns around to see Paige McCullers, one of her main rivals on the swim team. Her rivalry with Paige had never gone further than friendly competition, though, and she gives Paige a warm smile.

"How are you feeling about this meet?" she asks brightly.

Paige pauses. "Oh, alright I guess," she says. "Listen, Emily, I was wondering, can I ask you something?"

Paige is acting strangely nervous, and Emily senses that it isn't just about the upcoming meet. "Sure Paige," she says cautiously. "What is it?"

Paige's face seems to brighten up at Emily's words, and she takes a step towards her. "I was wondering, do you want to go for coffee tonight at the Brew?"

_Oh. _Well that explains why Paige was so nervous. Emily hesitates for half a second, before smiling. "Sure," she agrees. "What's your number?"

Paige types her number into Emily's phone and then leaves, wishing Emily good luck for the meet. Emily turns around, and her heart sinks when she sees Alison just a couple of meters away. Her throat is dry, and she can't find the ability to form words. Alison visibly clears her throat before she speaks.

"I've been wondering how long it would take her to try something like that," she says. Her face is largely expressionless, but Emily swears she sees her jaw shake for a fraction of a second.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, trying to keep her voice steady.

Alison takes a step towards her. "I don't think you should go out with Paige," she says quietly.

Emily feels a sudden rush of anger at Alison's words. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Alison almost flinches at Emily's tone. Her eyes flick to the ground for a second, before she looks up and meets Emily's eyes. "I didn't come here just to talk about Paige you know."

"Well why did you come here then Alison? Because I have somewhere I need to be."

Alison tenses. "I came to talk about the other night." Her gaze is completely focused on Emily right now. "What I said about practice, I –"

Emily starts to feel sick at Alison's words. She can't listen to this now, she can't have Alison break her heart into a million pieces right before her most important swim meet.

"Ali, I don't want to hear it," she interrupts.

"Em – "

"No Alison, I can't." She takes a deep breath to steady herself, before continuing. "I have no idea why it would matter to you in the slightest if Paige asks me out anyway." She hates it how her voice cracks at the end of her sentence, how she wants so desperately to matter to Alison, how Alison is the only one who could possibly make her feel like this.

Alison opens her mouth to say something, but Emily is aware that she is about to start crying, and she needs to finish before she loses it completely. "It makes no sense, you just –" she says, and she has to swallow to hold back her tears. She can't possibly finish her sentence, so she turns around, before Alison reaches out and grabs her hand.

"Emily." She turns around and meets Alison's eyes, and her stomach twists when she sees that her eyes are also watery.

"It matters because I know you can do better."

Emily gasps at Alison's words. Alison's eyes are shining with tears. Everything about Alison is sincere, but one word keeps floating back into Emily's mind. _Practice. _

She pulls back from Alison's grasp. "I can't deal with this right now." She turns and walks towards the locker room, refusing to turn around and let Alison see her tears.

* * *

><p>Emily windmills her arms, trying to ease her nervous tension before her race. She is the anchor for the Rosewood High relay team, and the third swimmer has just entered the pool. She's tried her best to put Alison out of her mind since their last conversation, but it's impossible. "<em>It matters because I know you can do better." <em>Alison's words kept repeating themselves in Emily's mind, but she can't make any sense of it. Was Alison complimenting Emily there, or insulting Paige? Or was she saying that because _she _wanted to ask Emily out herself.

Emily shakes her head angrily, trying to rid herself of the ridiculous thought. _Practice. _ No, Alison had just been insulting Paige when she said that. There is no way that she would ever take any real interest in who Emily is dating.

As she lines up on the starting block, she glances up into the crowd, and sees Hanna, Aria and Spencer waving and cheering loudly from the front row. Then, just a couple of rows behind them, there's Alison, and then-

_Alison. _Emily has to look again, but Alison's blonde hair is unmistakable even from this distance. Her palm is pressed underneath her chin, and she is gazing intently straight at Emily. Emily is surprised to note that Alison is sitting completely on her own, with none of her usual posse anywhere in sight. Emily swears that Alison sends her an almost imperceptible nod, and she snaps her head towards the pool, trying her best to focus. Alison. Alison has actually come to the meet. Is Alison just here to watch Emily or not?

This question is flying through Emily's mind as her teammate touches the wall below her. She swears as she realizes that she has dived half a second too late, which will surely not go unnoticed by the scout from Danby. As she swims, she can tell that her rhythm is completely out, and she curses as she tries to push herself to swim faster. This only throws her rhythm more out of whack, and she can tell that her nearest rival is making up the distance. Her strokes have none of their usual fluency, and she strains to try and keep in front, but it's no use. She is overhauled, and as she touches the wall after the last lap, she feels completely sick inside. She hauls herself out of the pool, and her teammates console her, but their words aren't sinking in. The Danby scout is never going to give her another look now, and she's let the entire team down.

* * *

><p>She's sitting in the locker room with her head buried in her hands She'd taken the longest shower she's ever had, because she couldn't face her teammates again. She knows they won't hold it against her for losing the race, but the guilt has been eating her up inside. By the time she had finished, everyone else had already left the locker room, much to her relief. She sniffs, trying to hold back the tears. She knows that really, it's only one race, but she'd let her concentration drift and the whole team had suffered as a result.<p>

"Emily?"

She looks up, and her mouth falls open as she sees Alison's blue eyes peering down at her. She hadn't even heard her come in, and to be honest, Alison is the last person Emily wants to see right now.

"What are you doing here?" Emily asks bitingly.

Her guilt has suddenly bubbled over into anger. It makes no sense, but she's completely infuriated at Alison for turning up to the meet and inadvertently ruining her mental preparation. She clenches her fist onto the seat below her, and she can't control herself. She knows all of her emotions from the past few weeks are going to come flying out, but she's just over everything.

"I wanted-"

"No," Emily snaps. "Listen Ali, I can't do this anymore. I can't. You said kissing girls was just for practice, and I don't want it to be practice, I want it to be real. The only reason I said yes to Paige was so that I could stop thinking about you, I'm behind in English, because you're there and I can't pay attention, you're always just _there _being so perfect and never reading the page and you always look at me and wink and it makes me all crazy inside and I can't concentrate, because you're so distracting, and you turn up today and distract me, and I have to move on –"

Emily's words suddenly register to her own ears, and she closes her mouth in horror, not knowing how Alison will react. She tries to say something else, but nothing comes out, and all of a sudden Alison is kneeling down in front of her.

She's staring at her seriously with those blue eyes, and Emily can't read her at all, and she just wants the ground to open up and swallow her right now so everyone can just pretend this never happened.

"I'm distracting?" Alison asks slowly. She leans forward and grabs both of Emily's hands. There's a smirk rising to her lips now, and Emily just _can't._

"Well –" Her words are cut off by Alison putting a finger on her lips.

"I distract you," Alison says, and oh god, will she just put her out of her misery. But then all of a sudden Alison is carefully peeling Emily's swim cap – which she'd somehow forgotten to take off – from her head, and next thing her hands are ghosting through her hair. Emily is shivering at Alison's touch, and she's rendered useless, all she can do is sit there and look at Alison like a fool.

And Alison's face has broken out into a huge smile, the biggest smile that Emily has ever seen on her face, and Emily just doesn't know what to think. Alison's smile is bright, so genuine, that Emily still just stares at Alison. The only thing she can hear is the sound of her own heart beating like a drum in her chest. She's never felt more vulnerable in her life.

Alison's hands are still in her hair, and she is leaning upwards, and Emily can feel her breath against her cheek.

Emily tries to do something, tries to at least move her hands, but she's practically paralyzed.

"Emily," Alison whispers softly. And oh, that is all she needed.

"You absolute –" Her words are lost, however as Alison closes the gap, her lips touching Emily's and her hands in her hair. Emily gasps as their lips meet, her hands coming up to run through Alison's blonde curls, and oh, that hair is just as soft as she'd imagined. There's only one thought on her mind, _I'm kissing Ali, I'm kissing Ali, I'm kissing Ali, _and Jesus, if she doesn't get her mind straight she's going to miss this whole thing.

Ali kisses with focus, like every slick movement of her lips is pre-meditated, like she's been thinking about this for years. She kisses with passion, with intent, and Emily barely even tries to keep up, because she can't even believe this is happening, and she can't possibly contribute to it.

Alison stands up, not breaking the contact between their lips, and sits down on the seat next to Emily. She's pushing Emily up against the side of the locker, and Emily is fully expecting to wake up from this dream any moment now.

Ali pulls back after a moment, breathing heavily, and Emily leans forward hungrily. Ali leans backward, away from the kiss, and Emily's stomach sinks as she suddenly remembers Ali words from the other night.

"This is the real thing," Ali says simply, and it's like she was reading Emily's mind.

"What?" is all Emily can say, only half aware of the fact that she is still leaning forward.

There's no answer, only the feeling of Ali's lips on her own once more, and oh, she will not complain. Now she is the one moving towards Ali, dragging her into her space, hungry for her touch. Ali reciprocates eagerly, and next thing her tongue is in her mouth, and Emily is sure she was crying about something about five minutes ago, bit she can't for the life of her understand why she would be doing that.

Because she is alive right now, alive because of Ali's touch, alive because Ali is kissing her, because this is the real thing, because that garbage about practice was obviously a complete misunderstanding.

Alison is pulling backwards, and Emily thinks for a second that it's her own actions that is causing the movement, but Ali is grabbing at her sweater and pulling her down, and next thing she is lying on top of Ali on a bench seat in the girls' locker room, and there is no place that she would rather be. She kisses Ali hungrily, and the force behind Ali's lips leaves no question as to how she is feeling. Ali's hands are caressing her cheeks, and Emily's hands are still in Ali's hair. She knows she really should be trying something else with her hands, but she can't, she can't get over how soft Ali's hair is, how wonderful it feels threading through her fingers.

Ali is pushing back against Emily now, and next thing she knows _she _is the one on her back, and Ali is kissing her furiously. She doesn't know _how _that happened, but she is not going to complain.

"You'll have to teach me that one next time," she mutters as Ali draws back to take a breath.

Ali is grinning madly. "There's going to be a next time?" And she winks, and oh, that wink, she _knows _what it does to Emily, and she can't resist, she leans forward and gives Ali an answer in the form of her most passionate kiss yet. She runs her hand down Ali's cheek, and Ali responds by sucking Emily's bottom lip. Emily is well aware of the moan that she lets out, but there's no time to think about that, as Ali's mouth falls open just enough for Emily to slip her tongue inside.

And god, she wants more. Her leg falls open, and Ali's thigh falls into the gap. Ali slides her hands down Emily's hips, and Emily feels herself shudder with pleasure at Ali's touch. Ali presses her face down onto the side of Emily's neck, and Emily moans as she feels Ali's teeth on her skin. She draws sharp breath and clings onto Ali's back, completely accepting the fact that she is going to die and Alison DiLaurentis will be her murderer.

Ali sits up again after a moment, and all Emily can do is lie there and grin. She knows she's like a kid in a candy stores, but she doesn't care. Ali just _kissed _her and really, she's died and gone to heaven.

She looks up at Ali, and Ali is looking back at her with an expression that mirrors her own. She's breathing heavily, and her eyes are shining with joy. They just stare at each other for a second before Emily winks.

"I guess I'll have to cancel on Paige then."

* * *

><p><strong>I've been waiting to write that scene for SO long, you have no idea! Let me know what you think ;) Anyway, I'm off to the lovely Gold Coast here in Australia now, one of my favourite places in the world. Put it on your bucket list if you haven't already been there :) Thanks for reading, I'll be back with another chapter in about a week!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone! I am back from my trip, and I had a lovely time! In fact, - and if you don't want to read boring anecdotes about random strangers feel free to skip this - I got my exam results for my first year of Uni and I actually passed, and did better than I thought in a couple of subjects, yay! The funny thing is though, I only started watching PLL in early September (I know, I should have started years ago), and my exams were in October. And I somehow managed to watch all five seasons of PLL in that time and still pass my exams :O Like I was so sure I'd failed because in the week leading up to one exam all I did was watch season four of PLL. Probably not the best preparation for a law exam. Oh well, time well spent in the end :)**

**Anyway, here is Chapter 8. Thank you to all those who reviewed the last chapter, hopefully this one is worth the wait :)**

* * *

><p>"I'm dying. I'm dead. You've killed me," says Emily. Her voice is raspy, and she knows that she is babbling on like a fool, but really, she just made out with Alison DiLaurentis. She's entitled to carry on a bit.<p>

"You're not dead," replies Ali, and Emily can hear the smile in her voice without even having to see it. Ali is a couple of steps ahead of her as they are walking down the hallway back towards Emily's locker, and she turns around to face Emily now. Emily blushes as she sees that Ali is positively beaming at her. She's feeling a bit faint at the moment, and Ali smiling like that isn't helping matters.

She blames it on the swimming.

Emily can't handle it, the way that Ali is looking at her like that, with her blue eyes actually blazing with joy, and this huge puppy dog smile, like if someone ran her over with a truck right now, she could quite easily say that she'd died happy. Ali being Ali though, there's still a trace of that smirk on her lips, and Emily can tell that Ali is well aware of the effect she is having on her.

Emily can feel her own lips turning up into a smirk as she realises that these effects were definitely not one sided. She's never seen Ali smile like this. In fact, she has the sneaking suspicion that _no one _has.

Ali notices the expression on Emily's face and just her eyebrows, as if to say '_you got me.' _She then checks her watch, sighing as she sees the time.

"I should probably get go – " Ali starts, before stopping her sentence short. "On second thoughts," she says slyly. She's sauntering towards a door just to their left, and that smirk has returned to her face. Emily's heart is pounding, as _that _smirk could mean about a million different things. Ali fiddles around with the lock on the door for a few seconds, and it's not until the door opens that Emily catches on.

"… A janitor's closet?" she says with raised eyebrows. "Alison DiLaurentis, I know you told me you were interesting, but –"

Whatever she was going to say flies completely out of her mind as Ali turns around and gives her a wink. And not just _that _wink, but a slow, deliberate and _very _self-satisfied one. Emily can do nothing but stand there uselessly as Ali steps forward and grabs her hand, leaning upwards to meet Emily's lips again. Ali only kisses her long enough to tease her – and Emily can tell she knows _exactly _ what she is doing – before she grabs her hand and spins her around into the closet, deftly pulling the door closed behind them with her spare hand.

The janitor's closet isn't exactly very spacious – not that Emily is complaining – as Ali leans upward again and kisses her – properly, this time. Emily gasps at the ferocity behind Ali's kiss. It really isn't fair how _wonderful _this is, how perfectly they fit together, how soft Ali's hair feels as she runs her hand through it. Ali is leaning against a wall in the closet, and Emily doesn't stand a chance against the way Ali's lips are softly tugging against her own, and the way that Ali's hand has settled into the small of her back like it belongs there.

"You know," she breathes to Ali in between kisses. "If you wink like that all the time, things are going to get very –"

"Stop talking," Ali says, her voice hoarse.

Her hand slides up the back of Emily's t-shirt, and she can't help the moan that escapes her at Ali's touch. She moves her hand to Ali's cheek and Ali's mouth opens just wide enough for Emily to slowly slide her tongue in, a move which makes Ali dig her fingernails into Emily's back.

She gasps, before leaning forward again. She can feel Ali smirking against her lips, and she somehow finds the presence of mind to process exactly what is happening to her. Here she is, on a Friday afternoon after having failed miserably in a swim meet, making out with Alison DiLaurentis in a janitor's closet. What a turn of events. Wait until Spencer hears about this.

Spencer, shit. They were probably looking for her right now, wondering where the hell she is, why she hadn't met them after her swim meet. She's about to point this out to Ali, but her thoughts are lost as Ali starts to caress the small of her back, and the feel of Ali's hand on her bare skin is enough to make her go weak at the knees.

Ali doesn't fail to notice this, and she pushes softly back on Emily, so that Emily is now leaning against the door. She hears something fall off of a shelf somewhere into the distance, and grins inwardly at the mess they are making.

The mess is quickly forgotten, however, as Ali slides her mouth down onto Emily's throat. She moans loudly, before she tugs softly on Ali's hair.

"Wait, not there. People will see it," she says softly.

"Oh but Emily, that is the point," Ali declares, before placing her lips back on Emily's neck.

Ali's words send a rush of heat through Emily. Accepting the fact that she doesn't really have anything left in her to deal with that, she closes her eyes.

"Look," says Ali after a few seconds. "Obvious, but also subtle," she proclaims proudly. Emily looks down to see a red mark on her neck, and she can't decide if she's pleased with being marked with Ali or not. Her decision is made for her as Ali smiles up at her before meeting Emily's lips with her own once more. Emily figures she'll find out a way to explain that one later.

She responds enthusiastically to Ali's kisses as Ali pushes her hungrily against the door. If there was a time before Ali's kisses, she's not sure how she lived through it. Because there's no place she'd rather be, with Ali here pressed up against her, her soft hair threading through her -

Wait. Is that footsteps? It's difficult to tell when Ali is kissing her like this. Ali sucks softly on her bottom lip, and she dismisses those thoughts. As if anyone would be – No. She hears it again, there's definitely somebody out there.

She pauses for half a second, before Ali's tongue somehow slips into her mouth, and that's it.

"I'm telling you, she's probably already at home wallowing in her misery."

Emily's eyes widen. The voice sounds suspiciously like Hanna's. And it's coming from right outside of the closet. This is not good.

"Hold on," she whispers to Ali, well aware of the reaction that would occur if Hanna was to hear anything.

"Oh? And what would you like me to hold on to, exactly?" replies Ali cockily. It occurs to Emily that Ali didn't even hear Hanna, as she reaches down with both hands and grabs Emily _very _firmly right on the arse.

Emily realises too late that the moan that escapes her is just a fraction too loud.

"Did you hear that?"

Emily swears inwardly at the sound of Spencer's voice this time.

Ali actually hears Spencer, and she pulls her lips away from Emily's. The footsteps outside have stopped, and Emily and Ali are frozen in their position against the door, trying frantically to listen. Their voices are right outside of the door, and Emily is sure that they would be able to hear their heavy breathing.

"Hear what?" Great. Aria is also out there. This really cannot get any worse.

"There's someone in there. Look, the lock is broken."

It registers somewhere in the back of Emily's mind that Ali's hands are still sitting on her arse. But she barely gets the time to panic before the door flies open and she and Ali go flying out of the closet, straight onto the floor.

Emily falls flat on her back and Ali lands in a heap on top of her. She makes the mistake of looking up, and sees to her horror, Spencer, Hanna and Aria peering down at them with their mouths agape.

Ali tries to wriggle off of her gracefully, but it's a process that's made much more difficult by the fact that her hands are pinned underneath Emily's arse. Eventually they sit up, and Emily finally dares to make proper eye contact with the girls, trying to ignore the fact that her face is a radiant shade of tomato.

Their faces haven't changed. All three of them have wide eyes and open mouths, and Emily tries to think of something witty to say, to no avail.

Instead, it's Hanna who eventually breaks the silence.

"_She's _your mystery crush?" she exclaims, crossing her arms.

"I'm your 'mystery crush?' Ali says with a smirk, and her comment is a statement, not a question.

"Um…" Emily says, stalling.

Hanna's comment seems to have broken a spell. In a flash, Aria is beaming, Hanna is glaring at Ali, whilst Spencer is clearly trying to suppress her laughter. Emily meets Spencer's eyes, and she actually loses it. She snorts, before bursting out into laughter herself.

Hanna's eyes flick between Emily and Spencer. "You knew?" she says indignantly to Spencer.

Spencer grins, before sticking out a hand to both Ali and Emily and pulling them up. "Of course I knew."

Hanna shoots Spencer a quick glare. "I'll deal with you later," she says, not altogether jokingly. She turns and narrows her eyes at Ali. "Now, onto you. How long has this," she waves her hands wildly " lovers tryst been going on for?"

"Lovers tryst!?" exclaims everybody else – including Alison – in unison.

Hanna at least has the grace to look somewhat sheepish. "I don't know, it sounded good at time time."

"What time, circa 1788?" asks Spencer derisively.

"Hey! It might come back in one day –"

Aria clears her throat. "Um, back to the real issue guys?"

"The real issue?" asks Hanna vaguely, clearly still focused on the poor reaction to her choice of vocabulary.

Aria looks pointedly between Emily and Ali, but the smile on her face is clear to see. Emily sends her a grateful look. Aria was less likely to go on about this for the rest of eternity than Hanna.

"Oh, yeah." Hanna attempts to glare at Ali again, but the issue is that she is biting the inside of her bottom lip, and Emily knows that means that she is trying to hold back a laugh.

Emily watches with amusement as Hanna tries in vain to be serious, but Hanna only lasts a second before she cracks up, and the tears of laughter fall down her face. The tension sufficiently broken, the entire group breaks out into laughter, and Emily has to admit, she can see the funny side. She was always seen as the innocent one, so for her to get busted doing _that, _well.

She feels a sudden thrill of confidence, and so she reaches over and grabs Ali's hand. Ali squeezes her hand in response and sends her a soft smile, which Emily returns.

"Hey!" Hanna clicks her fingers in front of Emily's face, but she is still too busy laughing. "I'm not giving you my blessing yet you know." She pauses, trying to control herself. "Hang on." She clears her throat and finally steadies herself, wiping away the tears of laughter in the process.

"Alright. So you two are…" she eyes both Emily and Ali, before dissolving into tears of laughter again. "Oh, I can't do this. This is too funny. Of all people…"

"You tell people about this and I tell people – more people" she changes her statement at Hanna's raised eyebrows "about the Easter Egg Incident." She's very pleased about having blackmail material against Hanna.

Hanna cocks her head to one side. "Well," she says, considering. "You've already told one person about the Easter Egg Incident, so surely I get to tell one other person about the Janitor Closet Incident?" she finishes sweetly.

Emily narrows her eyes. This plan has definitely backfired. "Fine," she says reluctantly. "Who would you tell though?"

Hanna sends Ali a very pointed look. "Oh, I think Mona Vanderwaal would _love _to hear about this incident."

All traces of laughter fall straight from Ali's face at the mention of Mona's name. She has actually turned a shade of white, and she is clenching so onto Emily's hand so tightly that it hurts.

Emily shakes her head almost imperceptibly at Hanna, who, for once, actually shows some tact.

"Actually forget it," Hanna rushes on. "You win this one Em. I won't tell anyone."

Emily nods her thanks at Hanna, and the color is slowly returning to Ali's face. Emily sends Hanna a small shrug, figuring she'll find out what just happened some other time.

* * *

><p>When Emily gets home that night, she flops down onto her bed and smiles softly to herself. No matter how many times she thought about it, she still couldn't believe it. Ali had <em>kissed <em>her. And it wasn't just a quick peck either, she thought to herself wryly as she touched her lips. Instead they'd had _two _full on make out sessions. If that was practice…

No. She dismisses the thought as soon as it enters her head. There is no way that was practice. Ali had said to her, "this is the real thing." And the way she'd kissed her…

She is shaken out of her daydream by the sound of her phone. She grabs it, hoping for it to be from Ali, but raises her eyebrows when she sees that it is

**From Hanna: We're coming over in 10. Have to talk**

She sighs. She should have known this was coming.

True to form, Hanna, Spencer and Aria arrive precisely ten minutes later, and they file upstairs into Emily's room. Hanna and Spencer settle themselves onto Emily's window seat, whilst Aria sits next to Emily on the bed.

"So, about today," Hanna says. "Do tell." Her arms are folded, but Emily can't help but notice the traces of a grin on her face.

"Well," Emily starts. She swallows, preparing herself to tell the story."After swimming, she came into the locker room and we, er – made out."

"You made out in the locker room as well!" Hanna cries.

"Well, yes," Emily admits somewhat sheepishly. "And then, I don't know, we just ended up in that closet. Her idea," she says pointedly, seeing that Hanna's mouth was open to ask that very question.

Hanna, Aria and Spencer look pointedly at each other before looking at Emily.

"So-" Aria asks, but she is interrupted by Emily's phone ringing.

Emily snatches her phone out of her pocket, and is pleasantly surprised to see that Ali is calling.

"Hey," she says brightly, trying to ignore the three pairs of overly curious eyes glued to her.

"Hey Em," Ali's voice sounds down the line, and Emily is pleased to hear that she is sounding perfectly normal. Ali clears her throat before continuing. "So, I may not have Hanna's blessing," she says, and Emily can hear her smirking, "but I was wondering. Are you doing anything tomorrow night?"

Hanna starts shrieking at this question. "Oh my god, is she being asked on a date?"

"No I'm not," Emily says in response to Ali's question. "What did you have in mind?"

"Its – " Ali pauses. "What's that noise?"

"Oh, just Hanna having a heart attack. Don't worry about her." She pokes her tongue out at Hanna, who screws her face up in response.

Ali laughs lightly. "Okay then. Well anyway, it's a surprise. Pick you up at around six?"

By now Emily is beaming. "Sure."

"Great. And Emily?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Hanna that it's a date."

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><p><strong>Just in case anyone is wondering, I do know what the whole issue is between Ali and Mona. I am very interested to know what you all think is going on though, so let me know! And your reviews have always made me smile, so seriously thank you for them! <strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**First of all, thank you once again to everyone who reviewed! I really enjoy reading all of your reviews, they are much appreciated. This chapter took longer than expected for me to write, but it's also the longest one yet, so hopefully it's alright. Thank you for reading!**

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><p>She should have known.<p>

She should have known that going over to Hanna's and allowing her to get ready for her date with Ali was a big mistake. Strewn all over Hanna's room is clothes, makeup and a few strange looking contraptions that Emily fears will be very dangerous in Hanna's hands. At the moment though, there's a more pressing issue. Hanna is coming towards her with a hair straightener that looks like it was made sometime during the Great Depression, and she's clicking it together like she means business.

"Ouch! Hanna, are you serious?"

Emily looks in Hanna's mirror and sees, to her horror, a bright red welt just above her right eye. She has absolutely no idea how this is possible. _Why _Hanna would feel the need to go anywhere near her forehead with that thing is beyond her. She glares at Hanna's reflection, who winces when she sees the damage.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! This one always gets really hot if you leave it plugged in for too long."

"So," says Emily through gritted teeth, "wouldn't the perfect solution have been to unplug it?"

"I…" Hanna, for once, is speechless.

Emily sighs. "It's fine. Just don't come near me with that thing ever again, alright?"

Hanna frowns, but makes the wise decision not to protest.

Emily decides to change the subject. "I suppose you're too happy with my date tonight," she says carefully.

Hanna doesn't answer for a couple of seconds, and instead sets about finally unplugging the straightener. "Emily," she says, twirling the straightener in her hands. "If I wasn't happy, I don't think I'd be here getting you ready, would I?"

"You just love any opportunity to dress me in new clothes."

Hanna grins sheepishly. "True," she admits.

"But?" Emily presses.

"But really Em, it's fine." She places a hand on Emily's shoulder. "I get it. I mean, if I was gay, I'd totally want to tap that – well, I would –" she adds at Emily's narrowed eyes. "I just don't want to see you get hurt, that's all."

"Could've fooled me," Emily mutters, her hand hovering over the welt, but with a hint of a smile on her face.

Hanna dismisses Emily's words with a quick wave. "You know me though," she says with a wink. "I am always willing to set all grudges aside in the name of love."

Emily smiles at Hanna. It's times like these when she realises just how good of a friend Hanna really is. She might not know how to operate a hair straightener like a normal human being, but Emily knows she really does care about her.

"Thanks Hanna," she says seriously.

Hanna smiles softly, before setting the straightener down and looking at her phone.

"Where the hell are Aria and Spenc –"

"Right here," answers Spencer casually, coming into the room right on cue, with Aria in tow. "Patience is a virtue my friend."

Hanna rolls her eyes. "You were supposed to be here about half an hour ago."

Spencer ignores Hanna, sitting down on the bed. Emily can see Spencer's reflection in the mirror looking at her with raised eyebrows, whilst Aria is looking at something on the desk. "And do you know what, I wish we did get here earlier," Spencer says to Hanna. "What did you do to the poor girl?"

"She nearly killed me with that thing," Emily grumbles before Hanna can answer.

"Oh, I did not," Hanna says dismissively. "It will go down in a couple of weeks."

"A couple of weeks!" Emily cries. "Hanna, I swear, I will kill you."

"Well –"

"Um, Hanna?" interrupts Aria. Emily spins around on her chair and sees Aria holding the hair straightener in one hand, and a rather frayed cord connected to said hair straightener in the other.

Hanna bites her bottom lip and carefully avoids all eye contact with Emily. "Oh, perhaps that's why it got too hot?"

"Hanna!" Emily exclaims. "Why –"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! Hold on, my mom has a spare one, I'll find that," she says, heading for the door.

Spencer stands up at Hanna's words. "I'll join." She winks at Emily. "I'll make sure the next one is in working order."

After Spencer and Hanna leave, Emily rubs her hand over the welt, which by now is a fantastic shade of red.

"I'm going to murder her," she mutters.

Aria laughs lightly, settling down in the spot that Spencer was just sitting.

"Apart from the welt, how are you feeling?" she asks.

Emily frowns at Aria's question. How was she feeling? She barely knew the answer herself. She had no idea what it would be like to go on an actual _date _with Ali. All they'd done is kiss, they hadn't even had a proper talk about that yet.

"Nervous, I guess," she answers truthfully.

Aria nods thoughtfully. "I'm happy for you Em, I hope you know that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's nice to see you excited about someone."

Emily's mouth curls into a wry smile. "I was excited until Hanna came along with that _thing."_

"You should be thankful to me you know," proclaims Hanna herself as she walks breezily back into the room, clutching a straightener that actually looks like it was made within the current century.

Emily looks at her curiously. "Oh? And why is that?"

Hanna looks pointedly at her injury before snorting with laughter. "Because. If she still goes out with you when you look like that, you know she really likes you."

* * *

><p>Two and half torturous hours – and six outfits - later, Emily is all set for her date. After much debate, they had eventually settled on a simple red dress that fell just short of Emily's knees. She had used her veto power on heels, much to Hanna's distress, instead opting for flats.<p>

Hanna had tried in vain to cover up her welt with makeup, but this had only exacerbated the issue. Eventually a unanimous decision had been made to leave the welt as is and pray for the best. Hanna maintained that this would be the ultimate test of Ali's love, but Emily felt it was the ultimate test of her own friendship with Hanna.

She'd texted Ali Hanna's address about half an hour ago, and now her phone beeps.

**From Ali: On my way :)****  
><strong>

"Oh my god, she's going to be early!" The butterflies in Emily's stomach have suddenly multiplied, and she starts frantically checking her bag, making sure she'd remembered to pack her phone and wallet.

Spencer waves her phone in front of Emily's face. "It is 5.50. She will literally be five minutes early. Perspective, please." Emily turns around and narrows her eyes at the smirk that Spencer is clearly trying to hold back.

"I've never seen you this nervous Emily," observes Aria. "It's nice."

"Oh no, I don't look nervous do I? Please tell me –"

"I'm not going to lie, you look like you're shitting yourself," Hanna announces, playfully twirling Emily's hair around her finger. "But it's good. Shows you care."

Emily takes a deep breath to calm herself, just as there is a knock on the front door. "Oh my god, she's here."

"That's right," Hanna declares, grabbing Emily by the arm and leading her towards the stairs. "Let's go."

"I don't need an escort," Emily starts, but her protest falls on deaf ears as Aria and Spencer also start to lead her down the stairs.

They reach the door and Hanna reaches for the handle, before turning around to face Emily expectantly. "You needed the escort, because I want to see what she is wearing," she declares, before opening the door.

The door opens to reveal Ali standing on Hanna's door step wearing a short-sleeved yellow sundress. She's left her blonde hair out, but she's somehow managed to curl it into some perfect ringlets that fall just past her shoulders. And Emily almost falls off the step when she looks down and sees a sunflower in Ali's hands.

"Wow," Ali gasps when she sees Emily. "You look…"

"Gorgeous?" Hanna supplies, obviously testing Ali.

Ali glances up at Hanna as if she'd only just noticed she was there. "Yeah," she says with a smile. "Thanks."

Hanna nods her approval, and Ali holds out the flower to Emily. "I saw this on the way and thought you'd like it."

Emily finally finds her voice. "Ali, it's beautiful," she says softly, accepting the flower. "I didn't get you anything," she apologises.

Ali waves her apology away. "You didn't have to."

"I'll put that in some water," Aria offers, and Emily gratefully hands her the flower.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow then," Emily says to Hanna and Spencer.

At this, a self-satisfied grin appears on Spencer's face. "Oh no you won't. You're coming back here tonight."

"What? But my mom – "

"Taken care of," Spencer says dismissively. "She thinks you're staying here on a slumber party. It's only half a lie."

Emily shakes her head. Trust Spencer to think of everything.

"Yeah, so we'll be waiting up for you," Hanna announces airily. "Have fun!" At this she pushes Emily lightly out onto the step closes the door rather abruptly, leaving Emily and Ali on their own.

Ali shakes her head at the closed door with a wry smile on her face. "Shall we?" she suggests, holding out a hand to Emily.

Emily beams, taking Ali's hand in her own. "Sure."

They walk down Hanna's path hand in hand, their fingers intertwining in the way Emily had dreamt about all those weeks ago. When they reach Ali's car, Ali opens the door for Emily, before walking around to the driver's seat.

As Ali sits down, she looks at Emily with wide eyes. "Emily, what happened? Did someone do this to you?" she demands, stricken.

"What?" Emily asks, before realising that Ali was talking about the welt on her forehead. "Oh, that? Hanna and a hair straightener. Don't ask."

Ali exhales, seeming to relax. "Thank god," she says quietly.

As Ali pulls out of the drive, Emily is slightly confused about Ali's concern, but she's flattered nonetheless. It was nice to have someone this worried about her.

"So," Emily asks after a few moments, "Where are we going?"

The corners of Ali's mouth twitch. "You're going to laugh," she says.

"I won't laugh," Emily promises, now more curious than ever.

"Oh, but you will. All this hype for a surprise, and guess where we're going?"

"Where?"

Ali laughs. "The Grill."

Emily can't help it. She does laugh. For all of Ali's mysterious ways, she's chosen The Grill as her big surprise.

"Hey, I thought you said you wouldn't laugh!"

"Oh come on. You're always being mysterious, and then your surprise is the Grill? It's a wonder I'm not in hysterics."

Ali shakes her head sheepishly. "Alright, I'll take that one."

By this time they've already arrived at the Grill, and Emily is surprised at just how relaxed the car ride had been. Talking with Ali had been just as easy as talking to someone like Hanna. There had been no awkward silences, and she'd been able to joke with Ali like she would with any of the others.

By the time they are seated in the Grill, Emily is perfectly comfortable, and she can sense that Ali is the same way. Ali keeps twirling her hair around her fingers and winking at Emily, and she can't stop giggling.

"Come on Ali, not here, save that for the locker room," she says between her laughter.

"Oh, that's our spot now is it? I was hoping for the janitor's closet myself."

Emily barely suppresses a snort. "Oh my god, I nearly died when Spencer opened the door on us today."

Ali shrugs cockily. "I didn't mind. I had a good catch."

Emily blushes at Ali's words. Before she can respond, Ali's phone beeps. Ali looks slightly pale as she reads the text, and Emily feels a rush of concern.

"Is everything alright?"

Ali looks up. "Oh. Yeah, it's just my mom, wondering where I am," she answers, before focusing back on her phone and sending a quick text back. After she finishes, a waiter approaches to take their order.

After ordering, they sit in silence for a moment, but again, it's not awkward. Ali is smiling softly at Emily, and Emily is busy trying not to loose herself in Ali's eyes. After a moment, Ali reaches across and takes Emily's hand in her own.

"How were you feeling about tonight?" she asks quietly.

"A bit nervous," Emily answers honestly, "But it's been great."

Ali squeezes her hand. "Me too."

"Really? Since when do you get nervous?"

"Since I found someone I care about."

Ali's eyes are deeply focused on Emily at these words, and Emily's stomach does a series of strange flips.

"You really mean that?" she practically whispers.

Ali nods. "Of course."

"But what about prac –" Emily begins, but Ali shakes her head vehemently.

"Em, when I said that, I didn't mean that kissing _girls _was practice. I just meant that it was practice for the right _person." _She leans forward and puts her other hand on Emily's cheek. "And I think I've found her," she says, so quietly that Emily isn't sure that she's just imagined it. But then Ali leans forward and kisses her right on the lips, and she knows that nope, she definitely didn't imagine it.

She's just about to respond to Ali's kiss when she hears a cough from behind her. "Erm, your meals, ladies?" says a suitably embarrassed waiter.

They start to eat their meals in silence, and Emily can't help but smile at the way Ali eats. She eats very particularly, one thing at a time, finishing one food before moving on to another, never mixing her foods on her fork.

Ali catches her watching after a few seconds and raises an eyebrow. "You get the taste of the whole food better if you do it this way," she says in way of explanation.

Emily shakes her head. "But it takes so much longer to eat," she argues playfully. "Look, I'm almost done, and you're barely halfway through."

"A small sacrifice," Ali smiles.

About ten minutes later, both Emily and Ali are finally finished. "I have a confession," Ali announces as she sits her cutlery neatly on her plate.

Emily raises her eyebrows. "A confession?"

"Indeed. You know that day when your car broke down and I made you hold that cord for the battery, and you were leaning on top of me?"

Emily nods, curious.

"Well, you didn't really need to do that. I just wanted to get close to you," Ali says, smirking.

Emily's mouth falls open. "Are you kidding?"

Ali shakes her head. "Of course not."

Emily has to take a moment to process this information. Ali actually wanted to get close to her_ weeks _ago.

Ali leans forward, resting her chin in her hands, eyes shining with satisfaction. "I also have another confession," she says mysteriously.

"Yes?"

"That first day, when I saw you fall in that box. I was actually watching you the entire time."

"Ali!" Emily cries, mortified. "You could have at least _helped _me."

Ali puts her hands out, palms up, and shrugs. "You had good legs."

At this, she stands up to leave, whilst Emily tries to wrap her mind around the concept that Ali had liked her from that first day. That awful first day when she'd wanted the ground to swallow her whole because a very attractive girl had seen her embarrass herself. And now she was on a date with said attractive girl.

Ali holds open the passenger seat of the car for Emily, before grabbing a bag out of the backseat and putting it on Emily's lap as she sits in the driver's seat. "And now, this is where the real surprise starts," she declares.

Emily lifts the bag up, and realises with a shock that it's her own bag, full of her own clothes. "How -"

"Spencer was surprisingly happy to steal your stuff for you. I thought she'd take more persuading."

Emily doesn't know how to respond to that, so she has a proper look in the bag. "What, exactly, are we doing?" she asks, holding out a dark hoodie that she'd forgotten she even owned.

"You'll see," is all Ali says in response.

After about fifteen minutes, they arrive in an area well and truly outside of the boundaries of Rosewood. Ali pulls over under a tree, making sure the car is hidden in the shadows.

"What –"

"Sssh," Ali says softly. "Get changed somewhere, and meet back here." She leans over and gives Emily a quick peck on the lips, before grabbing another bag out of the back and getting out of the car.

Mystified, Emily obeys Ali's commands. When she is changed, she meets Ali back at the car, who is also dressed in similar dark clothing. She smiles, and Emily can see her teeth shining brightly in the moonlight.

"Here, hold my hand," she offers, and Emily accepts, wondering exactly what Ali is planning.

Ali leads her through thick woods. There is just the barest hint of a path, and Emily can't believe that Ali seems to know her way around perfectly.

After about ten minutes, Ali stops abruptly. "We're here."

Emily looks up with a start at what appears to be an old mansion. The mansion had been so perfectly hidden in the shadows, that Emily would have walked straight past it had Alison not said anything. As Emily looked at it more closely, she was surprised to see that it clearly dwarfed even the largest house in Rosewood. As large as it was, its presence didn't take away from the natural environment around them. Instead, it blended into it. The years had had their impact on the building, with vines slowly growing up the front of it, and branches poking in through windows.

"Wow," Emily breathes.

"I know, right?" Ali smiles. She takes a few steps towards the mansion, tugging Emily lightly along with her.

"We're going in there?" Emily asks, somewhat concerned.

"Sure."

She follows Ali lightly around the outside of the mansion, before Ali slips in through a window that had long since been broken. Ali waves Emily in, and she follows somewhat hesitantly, but also curious as to why Ali had brought her here.

As she enters, she looks with wide eyes at the emptiness of the mansion. Apart from a bit of graffiti on the walls, the entire place was bare.

"Nobody's lived here for years," Ali says, noticing Emily's curious gaze. "Here, sit down," she gestures towards a spot just beside a front window.

Emily sits down in this spot, and Ali sits down just beside her. She rests her head on Emily's shoulder before gazing up at her. "I bet you're wondering why I've brought you here."

Emily nods. "Yeah, definitely."

"This was my favorite thing to do when I was younger." Ali leans over and takes Emily's hand before continuing. "My parents came to Rosewood a lot to look at houses, and I always came along. I read about this house online one day when I was about ten, and I took a bus out here and found it." She sighs. "I used to sit here and create my own little world. I'd pretend I lived here, and I'd make up stories about every room in the entire house. I'd leave my parents every time they came to Rosewood, to come here and live in my own little fantasy land." She laughs bitterly. "They never even noticed I was gone."

Emily looks down at Ali, and her stomach sinks when the moonlight reveals a single tear trickling down her cheek. She reaches a hand out tentatively to brush it aside, but Ali reaches it first, brushes it off aggressively, seeming almost annoyed with herself for showing such vulnerability.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly. "I never should have –"

"No, Ali," Emily squeezes her hand softly. "I'm glad you showed me this."

Ali doesn't say anything, but instead she wraps her arm around the small of Emily's back, and leans her head back on her shoulder. Emily leans her head on Ali, and they sit there like that for what seems like hours. As they sit, Emily tries to imagine how Ali would have felt, all alone in this huge house. She now knew why Ali was so good at making up stories about people that day in Philadelphia. She'd being doing it all her life.

Eventually, Ali starts to stir, and when Emily checks her phone, she is surprised to see that the time is already 12.18 am. She smiles to herself, figuring that they must have somehow fallen asleep there together. She shows Ali the time, who reluctantly agrees that they should probably get going before Hanna sends a patrol after them. After stretching out their backs they head back to the car, Emily maintaining her hold on Ali's hand.

They drive back into Rosewood in silence, but it's a comfortable one. Emily feels a strange pang of disappointment when they arrive back at Hanna's. Ali turns off the headlights before pulling over and letting Emily out of the passenger seat. They stand there leaning against the car for a couple of seconds before Ali runs her hand lightly over the scar on Emily's forehead.

"They're good friends you know," she murmurs, with the traces of a laugh on her face.

Ali's touch had sent a jolt of electricity pulsing through Emily, which she tries to ignore in order to form a coherent answer. "I know," she whispers back. Something about this moment made her feel like talking loudly would be a crime. "Perhaps you should join us for lunch one time?"

Ali shakes her head sadly. "I would, but after what I said to Hanna…" she trails off, and there's another tear on her cheek.

This time Emily leans forward and brushes away the tear with her thumb. "Listen," she says softly. "Hanna doesn't care unless I'm happy."

Ali meets her gaze intently. "Are you?" she asks, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Emily doesn't hesitate. She leans forward and meets Ali's lips with her own. She'll never quite get used to how enthusiastically Ali responds to her kisses, the way she wraps her arms around Emily's neck and draws her closer and closer into the kiss until she almost loses control.

She opens her eyes for a split second and she _swears _she sees a curtain flick back into place in Hanna's house. "The girls are watching," she mumbles between kisses.

"Let them," Ali declares, and Emily grins, leaning forward again for another kiss. After a moment, they pull back, breathless, and Emily is beaming.

Ali also has a huge smile on her face, and Emily will never get tired of seeing that. "You'd better go in and tell them about your amazing date," Ali smiles, nodding towards Hanna's front door.

"I guess," Emily says hesitantly, not wanting the night to end. "Thank you for tonight Ali."

Ali steps forward and gives Emily another kiss. "No, Emily. Thank you."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you once again for reading! I have something slightly different planned for the next chapter, so stay tuned!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Oh my god, over 150 reviews! Thank you once again to everyone who reviewed, I really mean it. I've slowly been getting through thanking everyone individually, because I really do appreciate it when people take the time to review my writing. **

**Anyway, so as I said at the end of the last chapter, this one is a bit different than usual. I'm not sure what to think of it myself, so please let me know! Thanks for reading.**

* * *

><p>Hanna is pacing. She can't help it. She's been stressing out about this date all day, not that she's told Emily that. She <em>needs <em>it to go well. If Emily comes back in tears because Alison has hurt her somehow...

"Hanna." Aria is perched on Hanna's bed, and is looking at her with a soft smile. "Stop stressing."

"I'm not stressing," Hanna answers. Spencer and Aria exchange a pointed look, and Hanna stops, sighing. "Alright, alright, I am," she admits. "It's after midnight and they still aren't back. Can you blame me?"

Spencer considers Hanna thoughtfully from her position on the desk chair. "Isn't that a good thing though? It obviously means that they're having a good time."

"Yeah and I think they would be," Aria adds. "That sunflower was so cute."

"I suppose," Hanna allows begrudgingly. She flops down on the bed next to Aria and sighs. "I just need to hear it from Em herself though."

The truth is, Hanna feels invested in this date herself. She'd been the first person that Emily had come out to, after all.

_She remembers the way Emily had been in that first week of Junior Year. They'd hung out together as a group every day, but Emily had been strangely distant. More than once she'd noticed Emily staring off into the distance, biting the inside of her cheek like she does when she is worried about something. At first, Hanna hadn't put too much thought into it, figuring that Emily wouldn't want her to make a big deal out of it. But it wasn't until one day at her house, when it was just her and Emily on their own, that she'd realised something was truly wrong. She'd been in the middle of telling Emily about her crush on Sean, when she'd looked up to see Emily's eyes filled with tears._

_"Emily," she'd gasped, feeling sick to her stomach. "What's wrong?"_

_Emily just shook her head, gazing up at the roof. "Nothing, I'm fine," she'd tried to say, but she'd choked on a sob halfway through her sentence. Hanna had grabbed Emily gently by the shoulders and steered her towards the couch, sitting her down._

_"Don't worry about it," Emily had tried to say, but Hanna wasn't having any of it. _

_"Em, whatever this is, it's clearly bothering you. So I am going to worry about it," she'd informed her seriously. There was no way she was going to leave Emily to deal with this on her own._

_Emily had just nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks._

_"Em," Hanna said softly, leaning forward and taking Emily's hands in her own. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"_

_"I know," Emily whispered, staring down at the floor._

_"And you know that whatever this is – no matter what – I'm here for you, right?"_

_Emily nodded again, taking a couple of deep breaths. She swallowed, clearly gathering her nerve, and after a moment she looked up and met Hanna's eye. Hanna braced herself for Emily's secret, fearing the worst, but she knew that she'd stick by Emily no matter what it was._

_"Han," Emily had started, before clearing her throat again. "Hanna…" and by then she was squeezing Hanna's hands so tightly that it had actually hurt. She swallowed one more time, before finally finding the right words. "I'm gay, Hanna," she said quietly._

_At this, Hanna felt a huge rush of relief fall over her. She leant forward and engulfed Emily in a huge hug, squeezing her just as tightly as Emily had been holding her hands. "Em, I'm so glad you told me," she whispered._

_"What?" Emily had asked, confused, as Hanna pulled back from the hug._

_"I'd honestly been worried that you had some sort of terminal illness for a bit there," Hanna admitted. "So I'm pretty happy about you being gay, really." _

_Emily had laughed at this, shaking her head at Hanna._

_"Here," Hanna said, passing Emily a tissue. "Wipe away those tears. They really aren't needed."_

_Emily laughed again, accepting the tissue with a grateful smile._

_"You know this doesn't change anything, don't you?" _

_Emily nodded, smiling at Hanna. "Yeah. Thanks Hanna."_

Thinking back to that day, Hanna can't really blame herself for being so stressed about Emily's date. She can't help but feel protective over Emily. No matter who Emily had gone on a date with, she would have been stressing, but the fact that Emily was dating Alison DiLaurentis, of all people, had made her possibly even more nervous about the date than Emily. She's fairly sure she'd hidden her nervousness from Emily, but from the minute she'd left she'd been frantic.

She sits up with a jolt, her mind racing. "What do you think they ate tonight? What about the car ride, do you think it was awk-"

"Hanna," Spencer interrupts, tossing a pillow in her direction. "Stress less. Seriously."

Hanna catches the pillow and throws it lightly back at Spencer. "I know, I know. I'm sorry."

They're quiet for a moment before Hanna sits up and looks at the sunflower, which is sitting on her desk in a vase. She did have to admit, that _was _really cute. And she couldn't deny that Ali had looked fairly blown away by Emily when she arrived earlier.

"I'm going to go down stairs and see if they're back yet," Hanna announces after a minute, getting off her bed and heading to the door. She turns around and eyes Spencer and Aria, who consider her for a minute, before standing up themselves.

Hanna turns and goes downstairs, Aria and Spencer in tow. She reaches the front door and peeps out from behind the curtain in a nearby window. And she almost has to suppress a squeal at the sight that greets her.

"They're kissing! They're – "

"Hanna! Don't _watch _them, for god's sakes."

Hanna ignores Spencer's admonishment. "Oh my god, there's _definitely _tongue in that!" she shrieks. She's never been this happy about a kiss in her life. And that includes any kisses she's been involved in herself.

"How can you tell from this distance?" Aria inquires, genuinely curious.

Hanna pulls her head back from the curtain just long enough to send Aria a haughty look. "Oh, I can _tell, _Aria."

Aria nudges Hanna over slightly in order to have a look herself, whilst Spencer rolls her eyes, although Hanna notes with glee that Spencer is grinning. After a moment, both girls jump back from the curtain, looking somewhat sheepish. "Emily may have just seen us," Hanna admits.

"Well you weren't exactly being subtle, what did you expect?" Spencer's dry retort earns her a quick glare from Hanna, who starts peeping again nonetheless. A split second later she flicks the curtain back into place, looking stricken.

"Emily's coming! Quick, go back to my room," she hisses, and the three of them race back up the stairs as silently as possible.

Aria and Spencer settle down into their sleeping bags, whilst Hanna props herself up in bed and picks up a book from her bedside table, flicking onto a random page.

"Way to be obvious Hanna," Spencer remarks sarcastically.

Hanna glances up and sees Spencer looking pointedly towards her book. "What?"

"You don't even _read," _Spencer points out, before the bedroom door opens and they fall silent.

Hanna draws a breath as Emily enters the room. Even though she saw that kiss, she still needs to hear Emily talk about the date herself. Emily's hair is flying around in about a hundred different directions, she's dressed in a weird tracksuit and she still has that ridiculous welt on her head. But Hanna looks more closely, and if she's not mistaken – and she's very certain that she's not– there's only one word for how Emily looks right now: giddy.

Emily comes in silently, a goofy grin plastered all over her face. She starts rummaging around in her bag looking for a change of clothes, and it's not until Spencer clears her throat that anybody says anything.

"So I take it your date went well then?" she asks innocently.

"Hmm?" is all Emily says in response.

"Your date?" Spencer repeats, grinning at Hanna.

"Oh." Emily glances up at Spencer, blinking a couple of times. "It was great," she says dreamily.

Hanna breathes a sigh of relief, as Aria asks Emily what she did on the date.

"She's amazing," Emily gushes, and the faraway look on her face indicates that she didn't even hear Aria's question. "It was amazing," she continues distantly.

"The kiss sure looked it," Hanna says, finally finding her voice. She's trying to make her tone sound somewhat accusing, but by now she's beaming, and she knows it's coming through in her voice.

Now Emily focuses on Hanna. "You saw that," she says simply, and Hanna is surprised that there is no trace of shame in Emily's voice, that instead she seems almost – Hanna narrows her eyes, looking closely at Emily – _proud_ of being caught.

Hanna shakes her head, grinning stupidly at Emily. She's so proud of Em, really. She's come so far from the days when she was too scared to even tell Aria and Spencer about her being gay.

_"Han, I can't do this," Emily had said, clutching at Hanna's hand tightly. It was the day of that sleepover, and they were walking towards Spencer's barn. Hanna had encouraged Emily to tell the others, but she hadn't wanted to pressure her. She knew that Emily would tell them when she was ready._

_"It's okay if you're not ready Em," she reassured her._

_"No, I want to, it's just..." Emily took a deep breath. "They might kick me out of the barn."_

_Hanna shook her head vehemently. "They kick you out and I'm coming with you," she'd said without hesitation. Emily smiled sadly, before Hanna continued. "They won't, though. They'll be fine Em, trust me."_

_"I hope so."_

_"Em." She stopped, and made sure Emily met her eyes before continuing. "I know so."_

_And so, later that night, they were gathered around in a circle, chatting and laughing like they always did. Aria was giggling about her crush on Noel Kahn, and again Emily was looking distant from the conversation._

_"Everything alright Em?" Spencer had asked, and Hanna had to suppress a smile. The conversation was going to go exactly as it had about a week ago._

_Emily looked straight at Hanna, who sent her an encouraging nod. "There's something I need to tell you," she said slowly, directing her words to both Spencer and Aria._

_"Em," Aria said, looking concerned. "What is it?_

_Looking at both Spencer and Aria's faces, Hanna knew that Emily had nothing to worry about._

_"I'm gay," she said simply._

_And Hanna beamed proudly, as Aria and Spencer both leant forward and wrapped Emily in a huge hug._

_"What are you so pleased about?" Emily asked after a minute._

_"Because," said Hanna smugly. "I can now officially say I told you so."_

And so, for now, she is content to just sit back, relax and enjoy as Emily tells them about her date. And as she listens, she comes up with a plan.

* * *

><p>She's a wonderful friend, really. That's what she tells herself as she shuffles into gym class the following Monday, resolving to pay very close attention to one Alison DiLaurentis. She hugs her sweater closer to her body, leaning against the wall of the gym. She's not sure what to expect if she's to be honest.<p>

What she isn't expecting is for Alison to come swanning into class five minutes late, humming a tune that sounds vaguely familiar to Hanna. Alison shrugs off the admonishment of their teacher nonchalantly, and Hanna's surprise is heightened when she realises that Alison is acting in much the same way that Emily had been acting when she got back from the date. They form into teams for volleyball, and rather than boss people around like she had every other time, Alison keeps humming that _damn _song, and she doesn't seem to care when someone else tells her what to do. It's almost making Hanna feel slightly guilty about her plan, but she feels it's necessary.

It's not until about halfway through the class, when Alison excuses herself for the bathroom, that Hanna sees her chance. She waits a couple of minutes before making up some excuse to leave herself, and then heads straight for the girl's bathroom.

She's about halfway there, when she hears a strange sound of singing. She stops in her tracks. It's that same song that Alison had been humming all through gym, except now it actually has words. She rounds the corner, and is greeted by the sight of Alison DiLaurentis standing at her locker, head bopping, and singing to herself, "Met a girl, cute as can be –"

"I didn't know you were a singer," Hanna says casually.

Alison jumps up in surprise, her books flying out of her locker and crashing down onto the floor.

"Oh, Hanna, hi," she says breathlessly, trying just a fraction too hard to sound casual. Hanna feels a thrill of satisfaction at the fact that Alison's cheeks have turned a flaming shade of red. "I didn't know you were there."

"I figured," Hanna says. Alison is trying to pick her books up off the ground, but she keeps dropping them again, and after a second Hanna sighs, taking pity on her. She bends over and helps Alison pick up her books.

"Thanks Hanna," Alison says gratefully, as Hanna passes them to her.

"No problem," Hanna answers. There's an awkward silence for a couple of seconds before Hanna clears her throat, figuring that it was now or never.

"So," she says. "Alison."

Alison turns to face her, looking at her with the hint of a smile and, Hanna hopes, just a trace of fear.

"Hanna."

She does feel slightly guilty. It's clear to her that Alison does care about Emily. After all, it's not every day that someone like Alison comes to school singing 'Summer Nights'. Still, she has responsibilities. "Emily and I are very close friends." Alison nods. "And she might be the most competitive bitch in the world, but I love her anyway."

A smile, and then another nod. "Very true."

"Right. So I think you'll understand where I'm coming from when I say that I won't be happy if someone were to, you know – " she looks Alison in the eyes – "hurt her."

Alison nods once again, but by now that smile has spread all the way between her cheeks, and Hanna's struggling to think of her next line.

"I was wondering how long I'd be waiting for you to say something like this," Alison says, sounding almost pleased. Hanna feels a pang of disappointment. She'd been hoping to take Alison completely by surprise. "You're a good friend to Emily, Hanna. I mean that," Alison says seriously. She meets Hanna's eyes, and Hanna's starting to wonder when the power in the conversation shifted. "I'm not going to hurt her Hanna."

Having seen something in Alison's eyes that made her sure that she was being completely serious, Hanna nods. Nonetheless, she makes a quick decision to try and turn the regain a bit of control over the conversation.

"Good," she says. "And you won't be a bitch to me in gym ever again?"

At this, Alison's cheeks flush red again. "Hanna, I –"

"Don't worry about it," Hanna cuts her off. And it's true. She'd accepted Alison's apology when she'd said it back in Spencer's barn that night. She'd just enjoyed making Alison squirm a few times, and she'd still wanted Emily to be careful. And now, seeing how positively buoyant – and Spencer would be proud of that word – the both of them are, she's more than happy to leave it in the past where it belongs.

She sticks her hand out to Alison, who accepts it after a second, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Truce?" suggests Hanna.

Alison smiles. "Truce."

They shake on it, before Hanna decides to take things a step further. "One more question," she says casually.

Alison raises her eyebrows. "Yes?"

Hanna claps her on the shoulder. "Want to sit with us at lunch today?"

* * *

><p><strong>Alrighty, so a bit of a switch in the perspective there :) I think it provides a bit more insight into Emily and Hanna's friendship, and also to Emily's coming out story. And we also got to see Hanna and Alison interact on their own, which I thought was kind of interesting haha.<strong>

**Agree or disagree, let me know what you think! I'm particularly interested to see what people think of this chapter. Also, it is 2am on the dot here right now, so I apologize for any errors. Thank you once again for reading :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Firstly, I just want to apologise for how long this update has taken. I've been really busy this week and I didn't have much time to write, but here we are. This one is on the short side unfortunately, but it is definitely important. **

**And next, thank you to everyone for reviewing, I seriously love reading all of the reviews, they are really appreciated.**

* * *

><p>Emily looks down at her lunch tray with a sigh. One thing about Rosewood High that she definitely won't miss is the lunches. They'd recently changed the catering staff, and a few pieces of wilted lettuce, the odd tomato and a pale looking carrot is what Rosewood High counts as a salad these days. Emily can't help but disagree. And judging by Spencer's screwed up nose, she also disagrees. It's hardly good enough to get her through her usual classes, let alone through swimming practice.<p>

She's just about to put a piece of the 'salad' into her mouth when she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulls it out of her pocket in a flash, and she can't hide the smile that spreads across her face when she sees that it's from Ali:

**Hanna might be a little excited today ;)**

"Something tells me that text is from Alison," Spencer observes with a wry smile.

Emily raises her eyebrows cheekily at Spencer. "Oh, Detective Hastings, how _did _you know?" she asks, momentarily forgetting to reply to Ali.

Spencer lightly throws a bit of carrot at Emily in response. "Because of that smile. It's been plastered across your face all day. It's quite sickening really."

"All day?" interjects Aria. "More like all weekend."

"Oh you two." Emily flicks the carrot back towards Spencer. "Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your tone?"

Spencer harrumphs. "Since when are you so cocky?"

Emily reclines back on her chair and spreads her hands, all mock arrogance. "Since I went on a wonderful date with a wonderful woman."

"You know," says Spencer, narrowing her eyes at Emily. "We never did hear much about this so called wonderful date." She picks up the carrot and holds it up as if about to throw it at Emily again. "All you said was that you went out for dinner. Which is quite strange, seeing as you didn't get back until after midnight."

"You _are _quite the detective, aren't you," Emily winks. "But you know me Spence, I never kiss and tell."

She'd purposely neglected to tell everyone about the mansion Ali had shown her on their date. She wasn't sure why, but she really wanted to keep that part of the date just between her and Ali. It was almost like she'd be breaking Ali's trust if she told anyone else about that.

Spencer rolls her eyes whilst Aria laughs. "I just want to know what those clothes I had to steal for you were for," Spencer says, trying to change her tone to a more pleading one.

"Sorry Spence," Emily replies airily. "What happens on a date stays on a date."

Spencer tosses the piece of carrot at Emily and hits her square on the forehead. Ignoring this, Emily speaks again.

"Tell me this Detective Hastings," she starts, but suddenly Spencer sits up straight and puts her hand on Emily's shoulder. She's staring at something on the other side of the cafeteria, and it is the first time that Emily has ever seen Spencer Hastings completely baffled.

"I'm seeing things," she says. "Tell me I'm seeing things."

As Emily follows Spencer's gaze, there's about a million different possibilities flying through her mind. An actual salad is one of them. The sight of Ali and Hanna strolling into the cafeteria, talking animatedly together, Hanna beaming and Ali nodding enthusiastically, is not. Emily falls forward on her chair with a thud, her mouth falling open. Even considering Ali's text, she's could have sworn that Hanna and Ali are not exactly on the best of terms. Hanna nods at Ali, who winks at Emily before heading towards her usual table. Despite the strangeness of this circumstance, Hanna is sauntering towards their table, as if there is nothing at all unusual about their currents situation.

Hanna slides onto the seat next to Aria, and Emily is quite certain that she's never seen Hanna this happy. Hanna doesn't even say anything, she just sits there and puts a piece of salad into her mouth, almost as if she's waiting for someone to react.

"Okay, I'll bite," says Spencer after a moment. "What, exactly, is going on?"

Hanna beams even more widely, something Emily would have said was impossible about ten seconds ago. "Guess where we're going this weekend?"

"Where?"

"Noel Kahn's Halloween party, bitches," she declares with an irritating amount of smugness. She puts her hands on her heart and smiles towards the ceiling. "I've been waiting years for this moment," she says dreamily.

"You're kidding!" Aria exclaims, overjoyed.

Spencer, ever the cynic, folds her arms and focuses on Hanna. "You've never mentioned this party once."

Hanna puts one hand up as if to silence Spencer. "That is _so _beside the point." She nods towards Emily. "Ali got us invites."

"She what?" Emily asks, confused. She's racking her brain, trying to work out when Hanna and Ali became such good friends. She's shaken out of her confusion by someone sitting down on the seat next to her, and she glances up with a surprise to see a very familiar blonde.

"I take it you heard the news?" Ali asks with a smirk.

"Well, yes, but…" Emily stops halfway through her sentence. She looks between Ali and Hanna and shrugs. "How?"

"We reached an agreement," Hanna informs the group, as Ali carefully avoids all eye contact with Hanna. The corners of her mouth are twitching, and Emily senses she's trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

"Right," Spencer says sceptically. "I'm not entirely sure that I want to know what this agreement entails, so I'm not going to ask for details."

"Fine fine," Hanna replies dismissively. "Everyone will be there, yes?"

Everyone choruses their agreement, as Hanna nods in approval. She then turns her gaze back towards Ali.

"So how did you get us invites anyway?"

"Ask no questions and you'll be told no lies," Ali answers mysteriously, and Emily can't help but notice a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

She is seriously beginning to wonder exactly what this 'agreement' really is.

Before she gets a chance to ask, though, Ali stands up abruptly. "I'd better go," she says, looking towards her usual table. "But I'll see you in English Em."

"Sure," Emily replies, trying to ignore the pang of disappointment in her stomach at Ali leaving. Ali heads back over to her usual table, whilst Hanna starts to interrogate everyone about what costume they'll be wearing. Emily's phone vibrates again, another text

**From Ali: Don't tell Hanna. But the party is actually open invite this year ;)**

* * *

><p>English is the last class of the day, and by now, Emily is almost used to the sight of Ali sitting at the desk next to her. Almost. Her concentration hasn't improved at all, and as she sits down, she resolves to actually try and learn something this time.<p>

Her pact is broken no less than five minutes into the class, when a scrunched up piece of paper lands on the corner of her desk. Emily picks up the piece of paper and glances towards Ali, who is looking suspiciously engrossed in the questions set for them by Mr. Fitz.

Emily subtly opens the piece of paper as Mr Fitz turns to write something on the blackboard, and there in Ali's unique cursive, is written:

_Sorry, couldn't stay there at lunch. Hanna was too funny. She'll be crushed when she finds out._

Suppressing a smile, Emily begins to write down her reply.

_I suppose I'll forgive u._

She screws up the piece of paper in her palm and reaches out towards Ali, pretending to have a sudden need to stretch. Taking the hint, Ali mimics her action, and Emily slips the note into her palm as their hands meet.

Ali shakes her head at Emily before starting to write again. This time she leans over and actually places the note on Emily's desk, taking advantage of a moment when Mr Fitz was at someone else's desk helping them with a question.

_Oh please, not chat speak. I hate people who can't spell. I mean, get a dictionary :P_

Laughing, Emily scribbles down a quick reply and slips it on Ali's desk.

Ali reaches lazily for the note, but to Emily's horror, Mr Fitz reaches it first. She winces, realizing that she probably should have checked where he was before slipping the note across. He opens the note, raising his eyebrows. "Alison, I'm glad that you seem to appreciate the art of the English language," he says, holding the note out in front of him. "So I'm sure you won't mind staying back after school and helping me out for a while?" There's the trace of a smile on his face, though, and Emily is relieved that he doesn't seem overly annoyed.

"Fine," Ali allows begrudgingly.

Mr Fitz turns towards Emily. "And I know you have swim practice tonight, so you'll be here on Friday."

Emily nods, breathing a sigh of relief. Thank god the party is on Saturday. Hanna would kill her.

* * *

><p>"I'm so excited. We are officially going to Noel Kahn's Halloween party. Do you know how big this is?"<p>

Standing at her locker after school that day, it's all Emily can do not to roll her eyes. Hanna has been talking non- stop about the party for a solid ten minutes. It's going to be a long week.

"I know, it's amazing, isn't it?" Emily replies, barely keeping the sarcasm out of her voice.

Oblivious, Hanna nods enthusiastically.

"Exactly."

Emily pulls her swimming gear out of her locker, and Hanna gives Emily a quick hug goodbye, before informing her that she'll be texting her tonight to organize costumes.

* * *

><p>Swim practice finishes about an hour later, and Emily groans as she takes her bag out of her locker. She has so much homework tonight that she can't fit all of her books into her bag, so she's going to have to carry a lot of them. She's about to head straight to the parking lot, when she remembers that Ali would be done with her detention by now, so she decides to take a quick detour to Ali's locker.<p>

She's just around the corner from Ali's locker, when she hears a voice speaking in a low but urgent tone. She stands still, some sixth sense telling her that the speaker probably didn't want anyone else to be hearing what they are saying.

"You should be glad it was me and not somebody else you know." The voice is clearly female, and Emily leans further around the corner, intrigued.

"For god's sake!"

To Emily's shock, the harsh tone belongs to Ali. There's the sound of a locker door slamming, before she continues. "Why the hell would you come all the way to Rosewood just to – "

"I came to Rosewood because I had to," the other person interrupts seriously. "I drove –"

"Oh, you _drove _did you?" Ali's tone is now biting. "Nobody else would –"

"Forget about that. Listen. You need to –"

"I don't _need _to do anything, CeCe!"

Emily is doing her best to keep a hold of the books, but one textbook is slowly but surely slipping out of her grasp. She's trying urgently to keep her grip on it, but to no avail. The book falls down on to the floor with a crash, falling into a spot where Emily will have to walk into Ali's view to retrieve it.

She cringes, before walking out to pick it up. She figures she'll just play dumb, not wanting Ali to know she'd just been listening in.

"Emily!" Ali exclaims as Emily reaches for the book.

"Oh, this is Emily?" the other person, Emily now taking to be CeCe, comments, as they both walk in Emily's direction.

Emily stands up, getting her first proper look at CeCe. The first thing she notices is that she looks uncannily like Ali. CeCe has curled blonde hair in a very similar style to Ali, and the smirk on her face is also oddly similar.

"Oh, I –" Emily stutters over her words, before Ali interrupts.

"Em, this is CeCe Drake, my friend from back in Georgia."

"Oh honey, I've heard _so _much about you," CeCe says to Emily delightedly. "You sound absolutely a-mazing."

Emily is taken aback. The way both of them are acting, it's almost as if that conversation never happened.

"Sorry ladies, but I have to go," CeCe announces, with a quick glance at her watch. She says it in the type of tone that makes it unclear to Emily whether she is really sorry or not. "But I'll be seeing you around, so bye-bye."

She gives both Ali and Emily a quick hug before leaving, and Emily stares at her open mouthed for a couple of seconds.

"CeCe?" she questions Ali with raised eyebrows.

Ali smiles for a second, but her face is slightly flushed. "She's a crazy bitch, I know."

"Right," Emily says under her breath, reflecting on the conversation she'd just heard. She decides to put it out of her mind for the time being, and instead she clears her throat.

"Ali, with this party…" she trails off, unsure how to approach the issue.

"You want to know if we're going together," Ali supplies with a knowing smile.

Emily nods, surprised that Ali had caught on so quickly. "Yeah."

"You know, I've never done this before," Ali says slowly. "Gone out with a girl I mean," she adds at Emily's raised eyebrows. Ali sighs, and Emily suddenly feels sick. This is going to be it, the moment where Ali says she can't do it, she can't go out with a girl. She tears her gaze away from Ali, being unable to meet those eyes if Ali says what Emily thinks she's about to say.

"I cared so much about what people thought of me back home," Ali continues. Emily looks up to meet her eyes again, not expecting this to be Ali's next sentence. Ali flicks her eyes over to the place where CeCe just made her exit, before looking at Emily again."And you know what, I'm done. I don't care anymore."

She leans up and presses her lips against Emily's, taking her breath away. She draws back after a second and smiles. "So yes, I think we'll go together."

* * *

><p><strong>One other thing, I was quite pleased when I saw a guest reviewer wanting CeCe to come into the story. I've had her appearance planned the whole time, so I was glad to see that review! <strong>

**Thanks again for reading. Hopefully the next chapter should be up fairly soon.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi guys, sorry for the huge delay in updating. My laptop crashed and I had to take it in to get fixed, and then when I got it back, this next chapter was gone because I hadn't saved it onto my USB :( And I had no motivation to write it again until recently. But anyway, here we are. Thank you for all of your reviews once again :)**

The day of the party has finally arrived, and it has taken all of Emily's willpower not to inform Hanna of the fact that the entire population of Rosewood High's Senior Year will be in attendance. She's unsure how Hanna missed the memo. Spencer had worked it out within a day, and it hadn't taken Aria much longer. Emily sworn them both to silence, and the three of them had taken much pleasure in indulging Hanna's delusions for the past few days. Emily had begrudgingly agreed to be the one to go over to Hanna's house and help her get ready, as the others didn't think they'd be able to keep a straight face.

Now Hanna stands facing her mirror, admiring her costume.

"I mean, I know it's cliche," she says, running her hands down her white dress, "But I have to look _good. _And Marilyn looked as good as you can get, so surely some of that has to rub off on me?"

She twirls around and her mouth falls open as she sees Emily sprawled out on her bed, still in her track pants and hoodie.

"Em!" she cries. "Why aren't you dressed? The others will be here soon!"

Emily stifles a laugh as she sits up on the bed. "I'm just wearing shorts and a tank top Han, I'll take five minutes to get ready." She glances out the window and sighs. It had been drizzling rain all day, and the temperature had been getting lower and lower by the hour. Perhaps shorts and a tank top wasn't the best idea for a costume in October, but she figures that Hanna will feeling the cold just as much in her dress.

Hanna rolls her eyes. "Shorts and a tank top? Please tell me you're not going as some hockey player or something."

Emily lazily throws a pillow at Hanna before answering. "Nope. And I don't even play hockey."

"Whatever," Hanna says dismissively. "What's Alison wearing anyway?"

"No idea, she won't tell me." Emily tries her best to sound slighty disinterested, but in truth, Ali's costume has been a source of great intrigue to her for a while now. She'd been pestering Ali about it all week, but all she'd gotten out of her was a few cryptic remarks and the advice to be patient. She makes a mental note to never let Ali live it down if her costume turns out to be a letdown.

"Interesting." Hanna remarks absently. She makes one last adjustment to her hair, before her phone beeps from her desk. "Aria says they're on the way," she announces, before sending a pointed look at Emily. "So hustle."

"Hustle?"

"Hey, don't question my vocab. Now come on, we are going to be the 'it' girls of Rosewood tonight, and I am not having you showing up looking like a dad's lazy Sunday. So move it."

Emily makes the wise decision to avoid meeting Hanna's eyes as she gets up off the bed. "Isn't it better to be fashionably late?" she teases as she starts to get changed.

"Fashionably late? No chance. I'm not missing a second of this."

Emily grins widely, glad that she is facing away from Hanna. After a minute she turns around, dressed in a gray tank top and light brown shorts, to see Hanna nodding approvingly.

"I don't know who you're meant to be, but damn. You're going to be the hottest bitch at this party, that's for sure."

Emily blushes, pleased, before reaching back into her bag and pulling out a toy pistol and 'firing' it at Hanna. "I'm Lar-"

"Hey guys!" Emily is cut off by Aria's greeting. Aria, as per usual, had gone all out for her Halloween costume. Sporting a purple and black striped top hat on her head, along with similarly covered stockings and dress, she's clearly none other than the Mad Hatter.

"Woo, Em, nice legs!" calls Spencer as she enters the room.

"Shut up!" Emily pokes her tongue out at Spencer in response.

"Sansa, really?" Aria asks Spencer.

There's a steely glint in Spencer's eyes as she responds to Aria. "Excuse me, but Sansa Stark is the dark horse in the Game of Thrones, just you wait and –"

Emily isn't even listening to Spencer's spiel, because there in Hanna's doorway is Ali. And her costume is anything but a letdown. She's looking the hottest Emily has ever seen her as Madonna, circa 1984, complete with the wedding dress, crucifix, big hair and all. She's leaning against the door way, and Emily swears that her eyes sweep approvingly over her legs before reaching her face. There's an approving twinkle in her eyes, and Emily moves towards her, only half aware that there are other people in the room.

Ali barely has time to move off of the doorway before Emily meets Ali's lips with her own. Ali is just leaning forward into the kiss, when Emily hears a cough from behind her.

She turns around to see Spencer, Hanna, and Aria grinning at her, before Hanna starts to usher them out the door. "No time for P.D.A ladies, we have a party to get too."

They're halfway down Hanna's driveway when Ali takes Emily's hand in her own and leans over to whisper into her ear. "Madonna and Lara Croft. If I wasn't so modest, I'd say that's a match made in heaven."

* * *

><p>To Hanna's slight annoyance they arrive about fifteen minutes late, but Emily isn't complaining. Entering Noel's cabin, Emily takes a moment to assess the party, which is going off even now. The makeshift dancefloor is already packed, dozens of half-drunk teenagers bobbing around to the music. There's a couple hooking up in the corner of the room even at this early stage of the party. Someone is lining up a batch of shots on the kitchen counter.<p>

Hanna spots the shots being lined up at the same time as Emily. Her eyes light up and she grabs Emily by the elbow, pulling her towards the kitchen.

"Look, free booze. This is my type of party."

"Seriously?"

Hanna, who had actually brought a jacket, rustles in her pocket for a minute, before pulling out a flask. "Well, I brought this as well, but why use this when I can drink that?"

Shaking her head, Emily follows Hanna over to where the shots are sitting. Hanna grabs two of them and passes one to Emily, before downing her one without even waiting for Emily. Emily downs her own shot, the taste of tequila burning down her throat, when she feels someone nudge her from behind.

"Has she found out yet?" Ali asks, nodding towards Hanna.

Emily shakes her head, as Hanna tries to subtly down another shot. Emily scans the room for Spencer and Aria, hoping they'll babysit Hanna for her tonight. She curses them both when she can't see them anywhere, knowing full well that they've disappeared just for this very reason.

"Ohhhhhhhh my god I love this song!" Hanna squeals, dragging Ali and Emily towards the dancefloor. Hanna elbows a few people out of the way as she pushes her way to the middle of the dancefloor, receiving several dirty looks, and Emily apologises profusely, even though her efforts are drowned out by the music.

They successfully work their way into the centre of the crowd, and Hanna starts doing her self-proclaimed 'best' dance moves, arms and legs flailing everywhere. One of these days Emily will point out to her that these moves only seem to come out when Hanna has had a shot or two. Ali grabs Emily's hand and bops along to the music in a more measured manner, much to Emily's relief.

The music fades out, and Hanna wipes her forehead, breathless. "I need another drink," she declares, pushing her way out of the crowd once again.

Emily and Ali follow her once again, and they're back at the kitchen counter, where another lot of shots are ready and waiting, when Hanna's eyes fly wide open.

"What's _she _doing here?" she asks, aghast.

Emily follows her gaze to one Mona Vanderwaal, who is perhaps one of the last people that Hanna would have been expecting to show up to a party like this. Emily snorts, as Ali pats Hanna on the shoulder.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention. It's actually open invite this year," she says through laughter.

Hanna's eyes flick from Ali, to Emily, to Mona and back to Emily once more.

"You knew about this?" she asks, eyes flashing dangerously.

"We all did," Emily says. If she's going down, Spencer and Aria are going down with her.

Hanna's eyes flick down to the shots on the counter. "Right. This calls for revenge." She picks up two of the shots and passes them to Emily. "Drink up."

"What!" Emily protests. "This is just like last time."

"Of course, you owe me. Now drink." She waves the shots in front of Emily, who takes them from her reluctantly.

"Why doesn't Ali have to drink?" she asks, feeling that it's a valid question.

"Oh, she will," Hanna declares mysteriously. Ali raises an eyebrow at Hanna as Hanna continues. "So drink," she says, nodding at Emily.

Feeling nervous, Emily downs the shots, making a mental vow to make Hanna pay for this some time in the very near future.

She puts the shot glasses back down on the counter when someone wraps their arms around her waist and squeezes her, engulfing her in a hug.

"Emmm," a voice slurs in her ear, "I've been looking _everywhere _for you."

Recognizing the voice as Spencer's, Emily pulls away from the hug and turns around to see a very unsteady looking Spencer, and a very frazzled looking Aria.

"Sorry," Aria says, trying to hold Spencer steady. "She got into a few shots out the back – a few too many, I think – and she's been like this for ages."

"Like what, Aria Banana?" Spencer questions, her voice almost in a sing-song manner.

"See?" Aria directs towards the rest of the group. "That doesn't even _rhyme."_

"Who care- oops," Spencer giggles, as the contents of a red solo cup she is holding fly all over Aria. "Sorry. Em, hold this," she hands Emily the solo cup before wiping down Aria's top clumsily with her sleeve.

"I'm going to go get cleaned up," Aria says. "So look after her for me can you?"

Emily agrees, as Aria leaves, before turning around only to see Spencer and Hanna halfway through their next shots. Ali is downing her first, and by this time, Emily figures that there's no going back. She downs another shot herself. There's vodka sitting on the counter now as well, and with that raspberry drink also standing there, Emily feels it looks rather enticing. She pours herself a mix of raspberry and vodka in the solo cup, earning moans of jealousy from Hanna and Spencer, who had no solo cups for themselves.

She's downing the vodka and raspberry, reveling in the aghast faces of Hanna and Spencer, when Ali narrows her eyes at something across the room.

"What is that crazy bitch doing here?" she scowls. Emily turns around to see someone looking very much like one Cece Drake on the other side of the room, decked out as a very attractive Bond girl who's name escapes Emily right now.

"I'll have to talk to her," Ali says, moving towards Cece. "Why she would come here after –"

The rest of Ali's sentence is drowned out by the music. And after that, the rest of the party is honestly a bit blurry for Emily. She has another shot with Hanna and Spencer, before she has some concoction handed to her by Hanna that tastes like nothing but the promise of a hangover tomorrow morning. She remembers somebody's shoe flying off in the middle of the dancefloor and missing Hanna by about two inches, who was happily oblivious to the entire incident. She remembers Spencer signing a random guy's chest in blue sharpie, something which should have confused her but which seemed perfectly acceptable at the time. She remembers Hanna doing an "extreme" version of her infamous dance and knocking somebody's drink flying up into the air and cascading down on half the people on the floor. She remembers Aria nearly slipping over on the mess left by this incident, and then everyone pretending that they had no idea who the culprit was.

She's leaning against the kitchen counter, trying to get her vision straight for long enough to decide whether to have another shot or not, when Ali sidles up next to her and throws an arm around her shoulders.

"How are you going?" Ali asks, moving a piece of Emily's hair away from her eyes.

"I'm great," Emily slurs. "Never better."

"Right," Ali says sceptically. "This party is getting boring. How about we go back to my house?"

"Sure," Emily agrees immediately. Sure, she could spend a while longer at the party. But one on one time with Ali at her own house seems far more enticing.

Ali takes her by the hand and leads her out the door. Emily shivers, the cool October air a drastic change from the sweaty cabin.

"Here, take this," says Ali, handing her a jacket that Emily hadn't even noticed she'd been carrying. "It's Hanna's. I found it lying on the floor before. I don't think she'll mind." Emily laughs, accepting the jacket gratefully.

"I know I said it before, but Cece really is a crazy bitch," Ali says as they walk up the road. "You remember when we were outside the barn and I left because I heard that noise from the bush?"

The memory is hazy in Emily's current state, but it does sound familiar. She nods.

"Well that was Cece," Ali continues. "See what I mean?"

"Doesn't she use front doors?" Emily asks, laughing.

"At my house? Not a good idea." Ali laughs bitterly.

A few minutes later, they've arrived at Ali's house.. "My parents aren't home," Ali says as she fiddles with the key to the front door. "So we won't have to deal with them."

She opens the door and Emily follows her upstairs, realising in her drunken state that she'll be seeing Ali's room for the first time.

And even with her somewhat blurry vision, it's easy to see that Ali loves photography. Her room is covered in photos from all sorts of places around the world, but mostly seeming to focus on Paris. Ali gestures for her to sit down on the bed, as she grabs her laptop off of her desk and sits down next to Emily.

"We never did get to watch Mean Girls," she says. "So I figured we could watch it now?"

Emily answers her with a kiss. "Of course."

Ali smiles, before inserting the DVD and clicking play. Emily leans down and rests her head in Ali's lap, as Ali runs her hands softly through Emily's hair.

"Sorry about ditching you," Ali says quietly. "I just had -"

"'s alright," Emily smiles up at her. "Hey. How come you're not even drunk?"

Ali snorts quietly. "Hanna forgot about me after you guys went to the dancefloor. Thank god too. You're all going to have huge hangovers tomorrow."

"Great," Emily moans.

They're about halfway through the movie when there's the sound of glass shattering. Emily sits up straight, as Ali runs to look out the window. Not seeing anything, she heads down stairs instead, Emily in tow.

Emily nearly crashes into Ali at the bottom of the stairs. Ali turns to face her, her mouth open and eyes wide with shock, before Emily looks at the scene in front of her. What she sees makes her feel sick to the bottom of her stomach. The window in the front of the room has been smashed, and glass is strewn everywhere around the room, with the curtains flying around almost ominously in the wind. And right there on the wall, in red writing, is a seemingly simple message: DON'T FORGET.


End file.
